Revenant's Tale: Orange Blossoms
by Neoshadow574
Summary: [BEING RE-WORKED] "It's not about what you wear that makes you brave, or the decisions that you make. It's how you can face your enemy with both fear and determination at hand and never give up, no matter how bleak it is. You may not see it yourself, Yellow, but you've been brave ever since your journey began." RedxYellow / OCs / Rated T-M (Blood and Frightening Scenes)
1. Prologue

**(A/N [June 25, 2013]: After finishing with Chapter 22, I decided to come back to the beginning of this story and fix the chapters because they've been bugging the hell out of me. So if you've been reading through this story and have come back to reread it, you may notice _a lot_ of changes. Just letting you all know.)**

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><p><em><span><strong><strong>Revenant's Tale: Orange Blossoms<strong>**_

**NOTE:**

"This type of speech is for regular people talking."

"_This type of speech is used when someone is speaking from the past."_

_This type of speech is for someone thinking to themselves._

_-This type of speech is for people or creatures that speak with telepathy.-_

_(This type of speech acts as a translation for whatever language that is not in English. In this case, Pokémon.)_

"**This type of speech is for robots when they speak."**

- This story will have the names given to some characters from the Japanese version. So Blue, who is the boy in the American version, will now have his original name Green, and the girl, called Green in the American version, will be called Blue, her original name.

- Also, there will be flashbacks that will be in this story that will have, in some cases, _this kind of speech_ and people in those flashbacks talking _"with this speech"_. Hopefully this will help clear away any confusion.

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><p><span><strong>Prologue<strong>

Long ago, since the beginning of time, Light and Darkness have worked together to maintain the peace and balance that exists within all of life. Through their power, countless worlds have been created, nestled within various galaxies across dimensional planes. Life was as sacred and beautiful as time itself, but there was always a dark presence amongst that beauty, and as such, death and corruption soon spread, consuming countless worlds and sentient life. It was an all-too familiar cycle of creation and destruction, one that life has repeated time and time again.

Five thousand years ago, a terrible war had occurred which threatened the very existence of all life; 'The Great War'. The Dark Lord, a being consumed with power and hatred, shattered the balance between Light and Darkness and waged war against the Vanguards, the wisest and most powerful beings, with an army of horrific creatures born from within the darkness, the Endless. During the war, worlds were destroyed or left to rot in the emptiness of space, while billions of lives were engulfed by the endless sea of darkness.

In the final moments of the war, a legendary Vanguard Warrior known as Vitaru Ryusaki rose up and fought against the Dark Lord and saved all of life from destruction. Though the damage had already been done, and the worlds that were lost were forever consumed by the Dark Realm, never to see the light again.

As time passed on, a new Warrior has been chosen five thousand years later since Vitaru, in the form of a young teen named Logan Stone. When darkness claimed his world, he and his friends fled and journeyed to the far reaches of space, learning more about those that were responsible and the destiny that Logan has been given. After saving several worlds from the Endless and the Wargarions, a race of cybernetic barbarians and allies to the Dark Lord, and meeting new friends and allies, Logan has become used to his new responsibilities and purpose.

But now, as Logan and his friends descend to another world to hopefully eliminate the Endless scourge, he must soon face one of his greatest enemies. An enemy that Logan knows all too well, and its very existence is far worse than the horrors it can inflict…


	2. Underwater Trouble

**(A/N [June 35, 2013]: One of the first few that I have finished editing after completing Chapter 22, the other being the Prologue. I will try my best to correct any mistakes that I may have made in my edits, but for the most part they seem alright. The beginning of this chapter is still a little problem to me, but nothing I can do to change that.)**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 1: Underwater Trouble<strong>

It is always difficult to find a place to stop and take a moment to look back at everything that's happened. Some people will scale large mountains and sit on top of the summit, or travel deep into the heart of a forest and meditate. Some would even prefer to sit on a sandy beach and gaze at the ocean, letting the soft gentle noises of the waves crashing into the sandy coasts ease their mind. It was quiet and serene places like that which helped many remember the people that they've met and the choices that they've made.

Logan Stone was one such individual who was able to do the same thing. His eyes were closed, hiding his solid coloured luminescent eyes, and allowed his mind wander off. In his mind he could see the various places that he had been to, from ancient ruins to great forests and small villages, the people that he had met, the friends that he made and the enemies and rivals he's encountered. He could feel a sense of peace as all the good deeds that he did for his friends returned to him, reminding him that there was still something to grasp onto in life.

This peaceful serenity would have lasted much longer if Logan wasn't also feeling frustrated at the same time. How he sat on the rocky ground beneath him, how his movements were slowed and bubbles formed wherever he made any slight movement… he knew exactly where he was, and it brought much disdain to him. He was at the bottom of a lake. And to make it worse, he hated water. With every fibre of his being.

Logan wanted to shout out his frustration at the person responsible for sending him here, but the fact that he could not breathe underwater, or even swim, was enough to stop him. He was grateful, however, that his lungs were stronger now than they were when he was still human, so they were keeping him alive for a little longer, but even he knew that he only had less than five minutes before they would eventually give in. He knew right off the bat that he couldn't use any of his powers. He was using them at the moment to keep himself alive for a little longer. He even went against using his powers over darkness, preferring to drown than use that accursed power to escape. So now all he could do was sit and think of how to get out of here.

One thing that he learned while being here was that, even though his eyes had become adjusted to see into the darkness, the kind that existed underwater was something that his eyes could not even penetrate. It was as if the water itself was alive, obscuring his vision with its murky touch. Another thing he learned was where he was exactly, other than being in a lake. There were some indications of tree foliage that he could see through the faint moonlight that shined above the lake, so it could be a forest or a jungle that he was in. But none of that mattered at the moment. What did mattered was finding some way to get out of here _alive_.

_The problem is the longer I stay down here, the more oxygen I'll use up just to come up with an escape plan. _He thought to himself as he raised a hand up to his temple, growling inwardly. _There has got to be a way out of here._

Many people were already aware of how smart Logan was, indicated by his manner of speech to others and how he would say what they would want to hear or have not even considered thinking about. What few didn't know is that deep inside his head lay the mind of a respected strategist; one that was capable of formulating complex plans in split-second situations, as well as being a good mathematician. So he knew that, with the amount of time he had spent underwater, plus how much of his powers he was using to keep himself alive, he had exactly 2.36 minutes before his remaining supply of oxygen would be gone and start drowning.

The problem was that a majority of the plans that he'd use for these kinds of situations would not work this time around. Darkness was definitely out of the question, and his fire powers would do nothing but turn the lake into a steam bath. He could use his light powers to illuminate the ocean floor so that somebody could see him, but the possibility of someone actually being close by or anywhere within this forest, especially at this time of night, was slim to none. He contemplated on using the installed rocket propulsion system in his greaves, but then reminded himself how difficult it already was for him to fly in the air. The fact that he, again, could not swim or manoeuvre in any way underwater, along with the increase of pressure that was present around him, it would make 'flying' out of here damn-near impossible.

He was so focused with his thoughts that he did not notice the small object that was heading straight for him, nor was he quick enough to retaliate before it clocked him on the side of the head, interrupting his thoughts.

Annoyed, Logan grabbed the small object and was about to snap it in half like a toothpick before something caught his eye.

For one thing, the object was actually a ball that was barely half the size of his palm. Though difficult to see in the underwater darkness, Logan could make out the two separate colours that made up the small object. The top half was coloured red while the bottom was white, and both were separated by a black line that looped around it. From where the black line split, a smaller circle was at the very middle, also white. He knew right away that it was a button, but for what he wasn't so sure. If he could see it in a brighter area, he would try to figure out what it was.

There was one other thing that caught his attention. Strapped onto the rear side of the ball was a tiny string, and as Logan's eyes followed it, he saw that it went all the way up and out of the surface. Which could only mean one thing…

_There's someone up there. Probably trying to catch some fish with whatever this thing is._ For a moment, he could barely contain his excitement. But he soon reminded himself that he shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet. He needed to be sure that this was real and not some trick that the water might be playing. _If someone is up there, then I need to be sure._

He tugged on the string. Just a single, yet strong tug, not enough to make whoever was possibly up there go flying, but enough to get their full attention, and waited. If someone was up there, then they would pull the string in response, making them think he was some kind of fish.

A second went by.

Then another went by.

And then another.

Every second that went by was another for whatever amount of oxygen he had left to breathe. Whoever was up there needed to respond now!

He was about to pull the string once more before he finally got what he needed. A tug responded to his earlier one, albeit a bit weaker than he could have imagined. He pulled the string again a few more times just to be sure that he wasn't going crazy. Sure enough, he got another response; a tug that would have been strong enough to free the ball in his hand if he was a normal human. But he wasn't.

He decided that now was the time to take action. His right hand began to shift and a small hole soon appeared on his palm. He adjusted his aim and trajectory and moved his hand carefully as fire began to build up.

_Three… two… one…_

Though the sound of the blast was muffled by the water, Logan heard the shot clearly and watched as the ball sailed out of the lake's surface and disappeared from sight. He could faintly hear sounds coming from the surface, more than likely someone reacting to seeing the object shoot out like a rocket. He waited until he could see some kind of silhouette as he began to focus his powers. Every second that went by was another second of his life on the line. If Logan was right, the person who was fishing would look down in the lake and see why their bait went flying. If not… well, he really didn't want to dwell on that kind of thought.

There! Close to the edge of the lake's surface was a shadowy outline. It wasn't like the tree foliage that he saw, but it was definitely something big, and round from what he could tell. Already thinking ahead, he unleashed his light powers and illuminated the ocean floor, just enough for someone outside to see him from where he was.

Sure enough, the silhouette disappeared from his sight and was shouting out something, though what it was Logan could not tell. Then, right after the shouting stopped, the figure dived into the lake. It seemed to be swimming straight to where he was. Success immediately replaced his worry and he opened his mouth absentmindedly…

Only to realize with horror that he couldn't breathe! He quickly closed his mouth and placed both of his hands over it, trying desperately to prevent more air from escaping. It didn't take long before the water that was already inside of him to fill up his lungs, making his need to breathe grow stronger by the second. Panic filled his mind as he discovered the horrible mistake he made. Because he had used his powers to illuminate the seafloor for those few seconds, he had used up all the energy around him that was keeping the pressure from crushing him. He could already feel it squeezing his lungs until they begun to hurt, attempting to force him to open his mouth and breathe. It would not be long before his remaining oxygen would soon disappear and he would start drowning.

He looked back at the figure that was swimming towards him, and soon realized that there was another one right beside it. He was not sure when or where the second figure came from, but for the moment he didn't care. He was too busy trying to keep himself from drowning. He could feel his conscious slowly slipping away as the two figures came closer and closer into view. When he dared himself to open his eyes once again, he could see that one of the figures was right in front him. The figure was definitely a girl, as evident from the way her silhouette looked, plus the long ponytail that gave it away. There was something about her that seemed vaguely familiar, though, that he couldn't quite place.

He watched as the girl moved closer to him and began making gestures, more than likely letting him know that he was going to be okay.

Signalling her that he understood, he watched as she removed his right hand from his mouth and wrapped it around her neck. She then signalled to the other figure to do the same thing… and it was then that Logan knew that this second figure was not human. He could feel dozens of snake-like arms wrapping around his other arm and body. He looked to his side and saw that the tentacles were also wrapping around the girl. He did not have enough time to look back and see who or what was helping them as they were soon carried up to the surface. By the speed they were going, he could tell that this strange creature was accustomed to this kind of environment.

Logan was now feeling the agonizing pain within his lungs as the last bit of air he had escaped through his lips. It was excruciating, if not unbearable, to say the least. He wondered which kind of death he would suffer from if they didn't make it in time; drowning, or having his lungs exploding. His conscious was fading before his vision began to tunnel. He could hardly see anything but darkness, a clear sign that death was very near. He tried to shake those thoughts out of his head and kept his gaze at the surface. The light from the moon lit up the murky depths the closer they were to the surface. They were so close now he could almost taste the fresh air.

His mind became too clouded to think straight as the last bit of his strength wavered. He could see the world all around him being swallowed up by an endless void. No longer able to hold it, Logan weakly opened his mouth, allowing the chilled waters enter his lungs… and seal his inevitable fate.

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><p>"Hang in there! We're almost there!"<p>

"_Chu…"_

"There's no pulse… No…"

"Wait… He's alive! I heard it! I heard his heartbeat!"

"_Pikapi!"_

"_Raticate!"_

"Dody! Go and find Red! Let him know what's happened! Chuchu! Grab my bag! Something in there has to help him! It's okay, mister! You're going to be okay! Just hang in there!"

"…_Just hang in there!"_

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><p>The first thought that crossed Logan's mind was the sensation that he was floating. That, and the near chilling touch of what he guessed was darkness. It was creeping closer to his motionless body, its shadowy claws waiting to drag him to who knows where.<p>

If there was one place that Logan hated more than being underwater, it was this place. Even though he could not see, he could tell that this was the kind of place that he never wanted to be in. The walls of darkness surrounding him and beyond, the cold air seeping through his mouth and stinging his throat; he remembered being here a few times before, but he could never recall them very clearly. All he knew was that he hated this place. It felt too much like death, and that was something he had grown accustomed to.

He felt something pressing down on his chest, but it was too faint to tell what it was. A few moments later, it returned, only now it seemed to be heavier. Now Logan was growing slightly irritated. What could possibly be doing that? It already hurt enough without having anything on him. He wasn't sure what it was, but when he gets out of here, he'll find out.

He felt his mouth opening on its own, and soon something blew inside of it. What it was, he did not know, but it seemed to be giving him more oxygen, just enough to fill up the spots in his lungs where the water had not reached yet. The feeling soon disappeared, but then came back, giving him more and more oxygen. He cringed inwardly. It was starting to hurt. He felt like coughing, but he was unable to wake up. It was as though somebody wanted him to suffer this way. He tried to open his eyes to see what was going on, but they would not obey.

The feeling that appeared on his mouth several times finally disappeared, only to be replaced by the one that he felt earlier. Whatever was pushing down on him seemed to be lighter than before, but that did not stop them from applying more pressure over his heart. His senses returned enough to let him know that the foreign feeling was a pair of hands, small and feminine from how soft they felt.

It was not long before the water quickly rose up to his throat, and the urge to get rid of it came soon after. His eyes flew wide open… and everything suddenly lit up.

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><p>"<em>Cough! Cough!"<em>

Logan began to cough violently as the water poured out onto the grass he was lying on. He kept coughing until he could feel his lungs burning and the stabbing pain in his throat. He opened his eyes weakly and looked up into the sky. Although his vision was still blurry, he could make what he guessed was the night sky, with the millions of stars dotting across it like dust. Even the moon was there, hanging proudly up there, yet close enough that he felt like he could pluck it out from there like an apple. He shifted his head to the side and saw a large, tan coloured shape beside him. His vision was still messed up, so he was unable to tell just who or what it was. After a few seconds, the world began to clear up. He could see the trees that surrounded him, the grassy plain for which his back was lying upon–

And the face of a very large rodent!

Upon instinct, he quickly moved to the side and got into a crouching position, his hand gripping tightly onto the handle of a dagger. Ready for a fight, he looked back at the mysterious creature.

The creature that stood before him is a large rodent that appeared to be bipedal, and was covered in a tan coloured fur with a lighter-coloured underside. Its front incisor teeth were incredibly large, giving out the impression that they could pierce through any kind of metal. It has three rows of whiskers that extend from its muzzle and its feet appeared to be webbed. Its tail was long, scaled, and bare, and its ears seemed to be ragged in shape. The large rodent, in Logan's opinion, looked like a giant muskrat. Yet despite its intimidating appearance, it gave out a gleeful smile as it saw him now awake and shouted out; _"Rattaa! Raticate!"_

He rose a non-existent eyebrow in confusion. Were his eyes playing tricks with him, or was he staring at a Raticate?

The creature kept making the same noise as it tried speaking with him. _"Raticate!"_

Nope, his eyes were not lying. Standing in front of him was definitely a Raticate. And from the way it looked to the side and spoke again, it was like it was talking to someone.

Wait… someone?

Logan followed the creature's gaze, and soon learned that they were not alone, for there were two other strange creatures that stood close by. One looked like a blue squid with many tentacles, with a light tan coloured spiky shell, and a face that Logan can honestly describe as creepy, even for a squid. The other one was smaller than the Raticate, with a yellow body that had black stripes on its back, red cheeks and a tail in the shape of a lightning bolt. Its ears were long and had black tips on the end, raised in curiosity and hostility towards him as sparks flew out of its cheeks. Most interesting of all was the object that it had on its head. It looked like a flower, of what kind he wasn't sure.

He thought that perhaps his time underwater may have made him gone insane, but when his took notice of a small ball strapped to a string, the same one that hit him underwater, he soon realized that it was no ordinary ball… It was a Pokéball. That was enough to confirm his suspicions.

_So these three are Pokémon, which means I'm in the Pokémon world. Never thought that could actually happen. _He took a quick scan of the area and did a double take on the three Pokémon, noticing right away that something was off. _The only Pokémon I know that can't live in a forest is the Omastar. None of the lakes in a forest have the proper elements to it necessary to make a habitable home for it. And none of them look like her… _He raised a hand up to his forehead and grumbled as a lingering headache throbbed painfully. _My minds still a mess… but I know the one that helped me was a human. But, where could she possibly–_

"Are you okay?" a girl spoke out timidly.

If the gentleness of the girl's voice was enough of a signal for him, Logan might as well consider himself insane. He turned his head around to see the owner of the voice… and felt like his jaw would fall right out of its socket.

The girl that was in front of him was two years younger than him, and just as he thought, a lot smaller. She looked like she would barely reach up to his shoulders if they were standing at full height. Her long, yellow hair that was tied into a long ponytail by a black string was now drooping and sticking to her face like tape. The front bangs of her hair hovered just slightly above her darkened yellow eyes and windswept, as they seemed to lean mostly to the left. She wore a black shirt and a pair of blue jeans, which were both dripping wet and in a darker colouration than they would originally be. Other than that, she did not seem to be wearing anything else. Not even a pair of shoes, for that matter.

Looking over to the side, Logan could see the reason why. From where a couple of bags were placed on the base of a small hill, he could make out what appeared to be an orange tunic, a brown belt-pouch capable of holding up to six Pokéballs, a pair of purple boots, and a large straw hat; all piled on top of one another. So that explains the missing shoes. She must have discarded them so that the added weight of the clothes would not endanger both their lives when she went down to go save him. That means that the large shape that he saw earlier was just a silhouette of her hat.

He looked back at her once more. Right as he did, he could see that her eyes were slightly bloodshot, and were shedding a few tears, making him more confused. Was she crying at one point before she found him?

While he would consider her appearance to be attractive, it was not what caught his attention the most. It was her eyes that did. He had rarely seen anyone with yellow eyes before. He can only recall one person he knew who ever had them, and she was long gone. But to see such a brilliant shade of yellow reflecting the light of the moon… he couldn't help but feel drawn to them.

"Yellow…"


	3. The Healer

**(A/N [July 2, 2013]: This chapter was a pain to edit. I had to scrap a lot of stuff, limited Yellow's Pokémon to just a few instead of all of them. But at least it's now shorter than it was before. Even though I've been editing these first few chapters, I still don't like them because I feel like I could have done better. At the moment though, I just can't think of any way to make them 'better', so I guess I'll stick with these for now.)**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 2: The Healer<strong>

_Earlier…_

Yellow Caballero was trying her best to contain her excitement as she and Red made their way to the Viridian Forest. While she showed no visible signs other than the obvious smile, inside her mind was ecstatic, her thoughts already buzzing about like a swarm of Beedrills.

It was just a few weeks ago when she, Red and some of their friends were freed from petrifaction by the other DexHolders at the Battle Frontier. When she awoke, she found herself in Red's arms, too weak to move until she started to regain her senses. After dealing with Archie, who had called himself 'Guile Hideout', they went back home to continue living out their 'normal' lives before Team Rocket's return, which Yellow was more than happy to do so. While she enjoyed going on adventures with her friends, nothing could make her happier than returning to the Viridian Forest.

Her thoughts began to dwindle as she slowly recalled the reason why Red was with her in the first place. A few hours ago, while she was packing her bag to get ready to sleep in the forest, Red had came by and asked her how she was doing. When she told him about sleeping out in the forest for the night, he asked her if he could come along. The moment he did, she felt her heart racing in miles. It was obvious that she was in love with him. Everyone knew about it. Well, everyone except for Red. And to her, it just made it harder for her to honest with him. She had tried several times in admitting her feelings to him, but there was always something that came up or interrupted her, whether it was because of some random trainer wanted to challenge Red to a fight, or her own nervousness that was keeping her from saying anything.

Yellow looked at her friend for what felt like the hundredth time. His trademark red baseball cap did nothing to hide his black, spiky hair. A black t-shirt was underneath his red and white light vest. He wore a pair of blue jeans, black fingerless gloves and a pair of red and black sneakers. The most striking of all was his face, which held a smile that never seemed to fade away and his red eyes that burned with fiery determination.

She felt her cheeks burn up as she looked at that smile. No matter how many times she's seen it, that boyish smile of his always manages to send her heart into overdrive, beating so fast she thought it might burst at any moment. Her blush spread across her entire face by now, making it just as red as her friend's eyes. He always manages to do that to her, not that she complained. It was such a pleasant feeling, and it felt even better when Red was around.

Looking back on it now, it was hard to believe that the very same Red who stood beside her is not only the Champion of Kanto, but also the one who defeated Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, several years ago. She witnessed both events before, just not in person. She found Red near the edge of the Viridian Forest when she was younger, heavily injured after his battle with Giovanni and nurtured his wounds, and had watched him battle in the Indigo Plateau and cheered him on during the finals.

She blushed once again as the memories of him and the adventures they've been in raced across her mind, bringing her out of reality for a moment before she came back again. She looked at the trainer that she idolized and, with much difficulty, spoke up, "So… Red… I-Is this… your first time camping?"

Yellow mentally slapped herself. How could she be so stupid? Of course Red had gone camping before! As a trainer, he always had to camp every now and then whenever he wasn't near a town or any settlement. How could she have forgotten?!  
>Red chuckled at the little display Yellow was making and replied, "No. This isn't my first time. But camping <em>and <em>fishing with a friend is something I've never done before."

She felt her blood rushing back to her cheeks once again, "R-Really?"

"Yeah." He stopped as soon as they reach the edge of the forest and gazed at the trees. He had to admit, seeing the forest lit up by the moon's light was breathtaking.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Red looked at Yellow and listened intently as she continued, "No matter how many times I see it, the Viridian Forest always leaves me speechless whenever night falls. Outside, it looks like an ordinary forest, but inside, words cannot describe the beauty and awe that exist within. Trees that glow in the moonlight, lakes that perfectly reflect the millions of stars that dot across the night sky, even the Pokémon who live in the forest help contribute to its natural beauty. To me, there is no better place in all of Kanto than the Viridian Forest."

Red was speechless, to say the least. She somehow had that effect on him. He smiled as he placed his free hand on Yellow's shoulder, "It must be great to be back home."

Yellow nodded her head shyly as her entire face became crimson again.

"Well, since you've been coming here much longer than I have, then you probably know the perfect place to us to camp, right?" he asked.

Yellow thought hard about all the places in the forest that they could go to. Spending much of her life near and within the Viridian Forest, she knew every part of it like the back of her hand. But there were so many places to go, she couldn't decide which one would be perfect for this type of occasion. Finally, after much thought, she gave Red a wide smile and clasped her hand onto his. "I know just the spot! Come on! I'll show you!" she beamed as she started to guide her friend into the forest to their destination.

Had she turned around at some point to look at her friend, she would have noticed the small blush that appeared on his face when he felt the warmth of her small, yet soft hands against his.

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><p>Minutes have passed since the two have entered the forest and traversed through its maze-like structure. All along the way, Red could not help but wonder where exactly they were going. They travelled so far into the forest that it was almost impossible to navigate through the denser parts without someone like Yellow to guide him.<p>

At the mention of her name, he couldn't help but look back at her as she continued to lead the way. It was hard to imagine that this girl, this young yet talented girl who hated seeing Pokémon fight, was the same one that he saved five years ago from that wild Dratini. Had it not been for the fact that he recognized Ratty, Yellow's Raticate, as the same one he helped capture for her when she was younger, he would have never known that she was the same girl. A thought crossed his mind as he recalled his previous encounters with her in-between the timeframes.

At first he thought Yellow was just a boy because of that straw hat, which hid her ponytail. But after the battle in the Ilex Forest against the Mask of Ice, she removed it and showed her the hair, revealing that she was definitely a girl. He was rather dumbfounded when he learnt that he was the only one who didn't know of her secret, but after talking it over with Blue, he learned why.

Blue explained that she needed to keep her identity a secret so that her friends and family wouldn't be put in danger while she was searching for him. It made sense, in a way. Green was always targeted for being the grandson of Professor Oak, and there was the time when the entire population of Pallet Town was held hostage by Team Rocket to keep them from interfering. He had to admit… Blue can be very resourceful sometimes.

But looking back on their adventures now, he realized that Yellow wasn't the same scared kid that he met years ago. She looked after Pika, his trusted Pikachu and partner, when he was missing, searched for him across all of Kanto, and had fought against some of the strongest trainers he had ever seen. She was more than just a close friend to him… she was someone much… closer.

There was one thought, however, that kept pestering him as he realized something; Out of all of his friends, why was Yellow, a small and naïve girl, sent by Blue to go save him when he lost to the Elite Four? There were a lot of others who were more skilled in Pokémon battles like Blaine and Green who could have done this easily, but why Yellow? She had never been in a Pokémon battle, she'd never heard or seen a Pokémon evolving, she didn't even know the basics of Pokémon. So why was she sent even after knowing how dangerous it was going to be?

He was about to ask her before said girl slowed down her pace near a thick patch of bushes. She let go of his hand and approached the greenery, pushing them aside to see what was on the other side. Before Red could say anything, she came back and grabbed his hand once again.

"We're here." was all she said as she motioned for him to follow her through the bushes. Whatever questions he had before were now forgotten as he looked at the area that Yellow led him to.

The clearing was a small, flat-landed area with a single hill and a dominant tree on top of it. The large lake that stood by the side look like it was big enough to swallow up a small house and stretched towards another large bit of land on the other side. The trees that surrounded the area covered up much of the night sky. The moon, which now hovered above the lake, cast down its radiant glow upon the area. It was, for the most part, a beautiful sight.

_How come I never found this place before? _Red thought to himself as he took in his surroundings, _This is awesome!_

Yellow watched Red's show of amusement. She couldn't help but laugh as she shook him slightly to get his attention. "You haven't seen the best part."

His eyes perked up. "There's more?" he asked.

"Yep! In fact, I think we're here just in time to see it."

"Time? Time for–" He was immediately silenced as Yellow placed a finger above his mouth.

"Watch." She removed her finger as soon as she said that and pointed towards the lake. "And you'll see." She began to walk until she was a good several feet away from the lake and sat down. She looked at Red and motioned for him to sit down beside him.

He did as he was told and sat beside her, not keeping his eyes off of the lake as he did. He never recalled a time when Yellow was this happy about something. Considering the fact that the forest was her home, of course she would be happy. She has a special connection with it, just like all the Pokémon born in it. She was just happy to be here. Red understood that feeling. He always enjoyed returning to Pallet Town. It held so many memories of his life; how he met his first Pokémon, Poli, how he met Professor Oak and his rival Green, and how he started his journey in the first place. He understood what Yellow was feeling very well.

Something began to flash at the corner of his eye. He turned to look and saw a little speck of light slowly falling down until it landed on the grass near his foot. As he looked back at the lake, he saw that there were now thousands of the small lights falling down. It wasn't just the lake; everything around them was dotted with these strange lights. He held out his hand and watched as one landed in the middle of his palm. He wasn't sure what to make of it, given that they were falling from nowhere. His curiosity towards the strange lights was forgotten as he felt Yellow tugging on his sleeve, yearning for his attention. When he looked at her, she pointed up towards the sky. As he did, he now understood.

A swarm of Butterfree, the biggest one he had ever seen in his life, flew by above them. From where he was, Red could see that the strange lights were coming from their wings as they continuously flapped to keep their owners high above the sky.

"Wha…" Red began before he was interrupted by Yellow, who was smiling at his reaction.

"Isn't it amazing? Every year, the Butterfree in the Viridian Forest gather together and travel across Kanto to other forests where they mate with other Butterfree." she explained. "As they travel, they release the spores from their wings and let them rain down to the ground. The spores don't have any effect since the Butterfree are so high up in the sky, but when they start falling, and when the moon reflects its light on them, it is one of the most amazing things you could ever see. Just look around."

Red did as he was told, and became speechless as he saw that the grass, the trees, the lake; everything around them were glowing in the light done by the spores. The spores on the trees made them look like Christmas trees, while the ones that were in the lake created an ocean of colours. The ones that latched onto him and Yellow made it look as though their skin was glowing, and the grass they sat on was like a golden sea of light. If the others were here with them, including the stoic and emotionless Green, they would be feeling the same kind of emotion Red was feeling right now. It wasn't just beautiful… in fact, there was probably no word that Red could think of that could express what he was feeling right now.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Yellow shyly asked.

"Yeah." he two kept staring up at the sky and watched as the flock of Butterfree disappeared from view. Yellow's eyes were closed at that point as she listened to the sounds of the forest around them, enjoying the peace and tranquillity of it every second.

Red looked back at his friend once again and felt the strange feeling return once more. It was strange. He had never felt like this towards anyone; nobody but Yellow. He had always thought of Yellow as a little brother when they had met a few years ago, but now that he knew her secret, he wasn't sure what he truly felt about her. Did he still view her as a little sibling he never had? Or did he see her as more than a friend?

Still staring at her, Red began to notice how much Yellow has matured since they first met. Even though it has only been a few years, he took notice how she was now a bit taller, and her face was not as child-like as it was before. He also noticed that a certain part of her had also developed in the past few years, but not by much. The way she sat there with her eyes closed and that smile on her face, it just made his heart beat faster. A slight breeze blew right past them, making a few strands of Yellow's hair move right across her face. Red blushed once again. She was, without a doubt, beautiful in every way. And with the moon radiating its light against her, it made her look like she was some kind of angel.

_I always thought that she was cute in a way, but I never imagined her to be so beautiful._

Indeed she was. And Red could not push away the thoughts of running his hand through her long yellow hair and feeling its silk-like touch, or holding onto her hand once more and feeling its warmth against his own. He wanted to be by her side and let her know that he would always be there for her, to let her know that he was always there to protect her. He never really admitted it to anyone, or to his Pokémon (even though they could already tell what he felt about her, even Pika), but whenever Yellow was gone or not travelling with him and the others, he would feel lonely. It always made his heart hurt knowing that Yellow wasn't there with him. If he told her how he felt about her, then maybe they would be able to share moments like this every now and then. But he couldn't risk it. Not if it meant ruining their friendship.

_Maybe when the time is right, I'll tell her._

Yellow opened her eyes once more and gave a small smile to Red. He looked back at her with the same smile. "I gotta admit, Yellow. That was something."

"I'm glad that you enjoyed it." Yellow said as she pointed at their camping gear. "Now, should we start with the camping?"

Before Red could reply, he was interrupted by a grumbling noise… that was originating from his stomach. The sound was both long and loud, and all he and Yellow could do was laugh.

"I guess we should probably eat first before we set up a tent." he said.

Yellow pulled out her bag and began rummaging through it. "I made some sandwiches and rice balls before we left, so they should be… somewhere… in here… uh…"

Red looked at Yellow with a confused look. "What's up?"

"Oh no! They're gone!" Yellow cried out.

Red was now worried. "Calm down for a second. What happened?"

He watched as Yellow looked back at him with a sad look on her face and said, "I left them at home. I was in such a hurry to come here with you that I completely forgot to bring them with me." Her hands were now on either side of her face, shaking her head as she mentally berated herself. "How could I have forgotten? They were right there on the table and I completely forgot about them."

He saw that her eyes were now beginning to shed tears. He didn't like seeing her like this. Thinking quickly, he opened up his own bag and pulled out a bag holding a few sandwiches of his own. "It's okay. I brought some with me."

He handed the food to Yellow and began to get up on his feet. Seeing what he was doing, Yellow asked, "What are you doing?"

"Since we are going to be camping in a _forest_, I might as well grab a few berries so we could eat." he answered as he pulled out two Pokéballs and tossed them up into the air. Both of them opened up and a pair of white lights emerged. One of them landed on the ground, and as it faded, a yellow mouse with a thunderbolt tail appeared beside him. The second light floated in the air and was soon replaced by another Pokémon. This one was a large, grey dinosaur with purple wings underneath its arms, two-toed feet and a harpoon tail. Its fierce eyes looked back at its trainer, waiting for an order. "While Pika and I go find some berries, Aero can fly above us and lead us back here." he explained.

Yellow shook her head. "I should be the one searching for food. I forgot to bring some, so I should make it up to you somehow."

"That's why I gave you my food for a reason. You can have it while I go find the berries. One of us needs to eat something and I want it to be you."

"A-are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Of course!" Red smiled as he gave her a thumbs up. "We'll be back soon with armfuls of berries!"

Seeing that it was impossible to win in an argument with Red, Yellow stayed where she was and watched Red and Pika disappeared into the tree lines, with Aero flying overhead. She stared off at the spot where they disappeared for some time before shaking her head slightly. _I know Red's trying to be nice and all, but it's my fault for forgetting to bring the food. _She thought to herself as she placed her bag alongside the camping gear. _I wanted to make this special for him. I wanted to try and confess to him how much I feel about him. Now I'll never get the chance to tell him the truth._ She reached down and grabbed two Pokéballs before tossing them up into the air. Twin white lights shot forth from them and slammed into the ground, revealing two creatures in their place. One was a small yellow rodent with a flower on its head and a tail shaped like a lightning bolt, the other a larger, tan coloured muskrat.

The Raticate walked towards her and held up his front paw, a smile stretched across his face. She knew exactly what he was thinking. As a child of the Viridian Forest, she had access to certain special abilities, including reading the thoughts and hearts of Pokémon. Even without making physical contact with them, she could clearly hear their words in her mind.

_(Hello, Yellow!) _He happily said to her. _(How are things going?)_

"Alright, I guess." she responded quietly.

Although she did feel happy seeing their smiling faces, it did nothing to quell her sadness. She began walking towards the edge of the lake, staring at its reflective surface as she did so. The lake managed to capture a perfect image of the moon and the stars that hung proudly overhead. It was stunning, to say the least, but even that did not help her in the least bit. She sat down at the edge, bringing her knees closer to her body and wrapping her arms around them. The Raticate caught on to this and spoke up again. _(Something wrong, Yellow?)_

"Wha? No. Nothing's wrong! I'm perfectly okay! See?" She gave out a fake smile to her Pokémon, hoping that they'd buy it. "I' m perfectly fine! Nothing to worry about!"

The Pikachu, Chuchu, shook its head and ran up to her. _(Don't try to hide it, Yellow. We know you better than anyone else.)_

Yellow blushed nervously at her Pokémon. "Am I really that obvious?"

The mouse nodded her head before adding. _(Let me guess… you're thinking of a certain someone? Someone named Red?)_

She looked at her Pokémon with a face that requested an explanation. It was then that Ratty spoke, _(You act differently every time he's with you.)_

_(And you're always drawing him in your sketchbook whenever he's around.)"_ Chuchu added, which in turn made Yellow blush.

The Raticate by this point joined up with them and sat to Yellow's left, looking at her with concern. _(Do you want to talk about it?)_

Yellow solemnly looked at her Pokémon before pulling her knees closer to her. She was tempted to say no and just leave it at that. Let the silence doo the talking for her. But she couldn't. It was just not in her nature to be that way to anyone, especially to her Pokémon. Maybe it was best to just tell them the truth.

"I-I'm not sure what's worse… the fact that I can't confess my feelings to him, or if I do, then things would only get worse between us. Am I a hopeless cause? I mean, he's one of the best trainers in all of Kanto and I'm… well, I'm just a simple girl from Viridian Forest who always needs saving…" she said as she looked at the lake with a sorrowful expression.

The Pikachu shook her head before voicing out, _(To be honest, Red is pretty dense. The only person who doesn't know about you being in love with him is Red, and the signs so far have been pretty obvious.)_

"That's not what bothers me. Okay… maybe a little bit, but that's not the point." Both Pokémon looked at her with quizzical looks before she explained it to them. "What I meant was whether or not I actually have a chance to be with him? I mean… look at him compared to me. He's an amazing trainer who lives for battling, he has a strong sense of loyalty and trust to all of his friends. He's practically what every girl dreams of having. Strong, handsome, funny, optimistic."

She moved her hand over her heart and continued, her voice growing sadder by the minute, "And then there's me… a girl who knows nothing about Pokémon other than the fact that they can be your friends, a girl who always gets herself in trouble and has to be saved by her friends. What kind of person would ever fall in love with me? I mean, I pretended to be a boy for two whole years! That's not something a girl would ever do!"

Ratty's whiskers twitched as he moved closer to her._ (Don't say that. We all know that he doesn't think of you like that. He cares about you just as much as you care about him.)_

_(He's right. Why would you ever think that you don't have a chance with him? You may have your flaws, but it's those flaws alongside your strengths that make you a great person, and Red knows it.) _Chuchu chimed in, which in turn made Yellow raise her head slightly. _(Maybe if you give yourself a little more faith, then you'll have the chance to tell him how you really feel about him.)_

Yellow looked back at her Pokémon, surprised by their words. She gave them both a wide smile and pulled them into a hug. The two Pokémon returned the hug by rubbing their cheeks affectionately on her, inciting a giggle from her. "Thanks guys."

It was moments like these that Yellow deeply cherished. Being with her Pokémon, spending time with her Red and their friends; she never wanted to forget these moment, nor did she wanted them to end.

Something shimmered in front of her, bringing her back to reality. She looked forward and saw that the lake was slowly starting to lit up. Confused, she leaned herself closer to the lake to get a closer look. The light shined brighter, and in response she felt a mix of surprise and worry. Something wasn't right. The Butterfree were long gone, heading off to different parts of Kanto or to other regions to begin their mating season. So the spores that they left behind on their travels should have been gone by now. Yet somehow, the lake itself was glowing as if a sea of spores has landed on top of it just seconds ago. Chuchu hopped off of her shoulder and stood beside her, sparks flying out of her cheeks.

She stood up and walked until she now stood at the very edge of the lake, peering deep into the water… only to stumble backwards as the light intensified. She had both of her arms up at this point to prevent the light from blinding her. Her Pokémon were doing the same thing as well, covering their faces or hiding behind each other to keep the light from blinding them.

Just as it started, it stopped. Yellow waited until her eyesight returned and looked back at the lake, a million questions already forming in her head. She pushed away the confused words that came out of her Pokémon and tried her best to concentrate. There was no way that was done by the spores. It was too unnatural. But if it wasn't that, then what _exactly _made that light? Was it another Pokémon? A human maybe? If it was a human, then what was he doing in the lake, and what was he using?

Whatever the reason, she wasn't going to find out by just standing around and guessing. She ran back to where her stuff was and grabbed her fishing rod. She checked to see if the Pokéball was still strapped onto the string and checked to see if was secure. After seeing that it was, she made her way back. Thoughts of finding out who was causing the light made her tense. If it was a Pokémon, then what kind was it? She had heard of some Pokémon that can use the light to their advantage, but she never recalled actually seeing one in person.

She sat down at the edge of the lake, keeping her distance in case something were to come out and pull her in. She tugged on the string once more to see if it was still secure, and cast the line. The ball sailed across the air until it landed in the middle of the lake, bobbing a few times before it sank into the murky depths. _If I'm going to find the one who made it, I need to _see _where I'm going._ She then began to focus her mind on the Pokéball, letting her powers guide her through the dark waters of the lake. The Pokéball began to react to her powers and started moving, slowly at first until it now moved just as fast as the creatures that lived in the waters. The ball began to move around in circles, traveling further and further with each successful turn.

She continued to stare at the string before her eyes settled on the center of the lake. A thought dawned on her and she let out a small sigh. This was going to take a while.

* * *

><p><em>Three minutes later…<em>

Yellow blew a strand of her hair that had fallen over her eyes and continued to look at the lake, only now she was growing tired. Several minutes had passed and so far nothing. She never had this kind of trouble. The last few times she did this, it was to Pokémon that she knew that lived in the lakes, or the ones that were causing problems. This one on the other hand was pretty much a mystery to her. It could be anything that she was trying to search for, and already it was proving to be very elusive. She had recalled 'encountering' it a few times so far. Its presence was definitely unlike any of the Pokémon that lived in this lake, but it was too faint for her to be sure.

She was just about to will the ball to a new spot before she felt it. The mysterious presence. It was stronger than the last few times, so she knew that she was getting close. But there was something off about it, something that warned her immensely to not continue. Even though it was still faint, it felt powerful, and to the best of her knowledge, dangerous. She manipulated the ball to move around its spot a bit, and sure enough, she felt it becoming stronger. She was getting close. Having an idea as to where to go, she made the Pokéball travel to the source of the presence.

For a small lake, it was surprisingly deep. She imagined it to be deep enough for people to get from the surface to the underwater seafloor in ten seconds, but this lake was deep enough to make a whole one minute trip, maybe more if they were carrying something heavy with them. She could not imagine a human being doing such a daring thing.

_Then again, _she thought, _I do have a lot of friends who have done some crazy and daring things themselves. Mostly Gold. Honestly, he needs to be careful with his actions or he's going to put himself in serious danger._

She snapped back to reality when she felt the Pokéball collide with something. The ball was soon grabbed by something, setting Yellow to full alert. Its grip was tightening, and for a moment she felt nothing but pain around her body before it slackened. She could definitely feel the power now. It was stronger than anything she had ever experienced, and it terrified her greatly.

_Whoever, or whatever, is down there can't be a human or a Pokémon. It feel too… alien to be either one._

She kept her grip firm on the fishing rod in case it were to fly out of her hands. Taking a few deep breaths, she was about to pull hard on it and free the ball before she was beaten to it. A strong tug had appeared, almost making her lose her balance and fall into the lake. She was unsure how to explain what just happened. Was the mysterious being inspecting the line to see if it was secure to something? Or was to trying to see if there was anyone… up on the…

Yellow gulped as she imagined the mysterious creature jumping out of the lake and attacking her. It was terrifying, to say the least, of what could possibly be down there toying with the line. She waited for anything else to happen, and breathed out a sigh of relief when nothing showed up. That means that whatever was down there was trying to be cautious.

Her mind continued to be clouded by thoughts, however, as she thought about what to do. Should she respond to the tug earlier by doing one herself, letting the person know that she was up here? She could never bring herself to hurt another person or Pokémon. It was against everything she believed in. But if whatever was down there was neither of them, would she still risk it and save the being? If it wasn't friendly, which she had a strong guess that it might be, then she would have to try and reason with him. Perhaps she could even learn why he was here in the Viridian Forest and see if he was after the Pokémon living in it.

With that thought in mind, Yellow responded to the tug with one of her own. Since she was physically a lot smaller than other people, the tug came out a bit weaker than it should have been. But with her powers, she was able to do something. She patiently waited for the being to respond, hoping that it managed to get her message. Sure enough, three more tugs had appeared. She decided to try something different and, with all the strength her little body possessed, she yanked the fishing rod.

To her surprise, however, the string didn't even budge. She used her powers again to see what was wrong, and was shocked to notice that the mysterious being was still holding onto the Pokéball. Even though she could feel the relaxed tension its hand gave out as it wrapped around the ball, she could feel it trying to push past through its fingers, hoping to break free as a result of her tug. She could somehow see the being giving out a smile at this attempt. Yellow soon began to worry once more. With that kind of tug that she gave out, mixed with her powers, the Pokéball should have been able to escape from even inside the mouth of a Gyrados. But that didn't make any sense. Who could possess all that power?

_Not who… what. What could possess all that power?_ She corrected herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted once more as she noticed the string began to move. There was nothing holding onto the other end, which probably meant that the being that was down there lost interest in it. The string continued to move as a small portion of it landed on the ground in front of her. Now that was odd. She wasn't using her powers at the moment since they have a tendency to drain her energy. She could already feel fatigue around her as a result for using them for too long. So if she wasn't controlling it, and if she wasn't reeling it in, then what was…?

She soon received her answer as the Pokéball rocketed out of the lake's surface and flew high up in the air. The sudden action startled Yellow, and immediately made her Pokémon rush over to her side The ball, no longer surrounded in water, fell back to the earth, landing on the patch of grass that was right beside her foot.

Now Yellow was terrified. Pokéballs don't just fly up into the sky for no reason. She learned enough about fishing from her Uncle Wilton to know that if the bait you use started flying into the sky, then it was either because something didn't agree with it, or there was something else in the water besides the usual catch. Her Pokémon stared at her with worried looks, hoping that she was okay. _(Are you okay?) _Ratty asked, his face contorted with worry.

Smiling that they were concerned for her, she gently spoke to them, "It's okay. I'm alright."

She began to walk towards the edge of the lake until she could see her reflection on its surface. She looked hard to see past through the surface for anything that could be lurking down there. The water returned to its calm form as the waves buffeted by the slight breeze gently rocked against the rocky shore. She peered harder into the lake, but it was no use. It was too dark to see what was in the lake. If it was morning, she would catch a glimpse of whoever or whatever it was that was down there. But with it being nightfall and the light from the moon doing nothing to illuminate the murky depths, there was nothing that she could see besides her own reflection and two faint lights from down below.

She turned her head slightly to look at the lights and felt a strange sense of calmness enveloping her. It was strange, to say the least, how two small lights could make her feel so relax. Maybe it was because she could feel the effects of using her powers lulling her to sleep. Or maybe it was because the lights gave out such a magnificent glow in the darkness of the lake that made her feel welcomed. The two lights, one green and one yellow, seemed to stare back at her as if they somehow acknowledged her presence.

As Yellow continued to watch the lights, she became rather surprised when the lights disappeared one second and then returned in another. Since when did lights do such a thing? Maybe something moved by above them and made them disappear. That could be it. But still…

_The way those lights disappeared,_ She thought to herself, _It was like they just blinked. But lights don't just 'blink'. If they did, then they wouldn't be lights, but eyes that could belong to whatever's down…_

Yellow quickly realized what she just thought. _Wait… eyes?_

She looked back at the lights, albeit more afraid than she was before, and watched as another light, one that was brighter than both of the 'eyes', appeared from beneath the darkened waters. The light began to grow brighter and brighter until it was too painful to see. But that didn't stop Yellow as she peered into the lake again, this time with the light illuminating enough of the seafloor. Her eyes went to where the two eyes were, and she immediately froze as she saw who those eyes belonged to.

Even though it was difficult to see him completely, she could make out what appeared to be arms that were making the blinding light between his hands, and what she believed was his body. She could not see his face clearly, but for right now, that didn't matter. There was someone down there, and if she didn't do anything, then he would die. She reached down and pulled out yet another Pokéball and threw it up in the air. It opened up like the previous two and revealed a large, blue squid with a tan coloured shell.

"Omny, go and help the person that's down there!" she commanded as she took off her hat and tunic and placed them on the ground. "I'll catch up!"

_(Right!)_ The Omastar replied as it dived into the lake, waiting for its master to do the same thing.

With nothing but her jeans and shirt, Yellow dived into the lake, appearing just beside her Pokémon. The water was freezing, despite the fact that it was the middle of the summer, and Yellow fought against the urge to go back up to the surface. She placed an arm around Omny's shell and allowed it to guide her to where the figure was. Since the Omastar was in its natural environment, it could easily lead her to the figure and then back up to the surface.

_I just hope that we can make it in time._

What felt like a few seconds felt like an eternity as Omny stopped his movement and helped Yellow lead her to where the person was. She could hardly see him in the darkness, but she could make out his hands covering what she could guess was his mouth, a clear sign that he had swallowed too much. Thinking quickly, she began moving her arms around, signalling to him that he was going to be okay. The figure seemed to understood and signalled back to her. She then began to take action. She grabbed the figures right arm and wrapped it around her neck, then signalled to Omny to do the same. Obeying, the Omastar used his tentacles and wrapped around both its master and the figures waist. A few of them wrapped themselves around both of them so that it would be easier to carry them out of here. Soon, all three of them began to move up to the surface.

Yellow began to flutter kick her way up as well, with the barely conscious person gripping onto her shoulder. Even with Omny having a good grip around the strange figure, he was still pretty heavy. The part of his arm that she was holding onto was also making her curious about him. It didn't feel like clothing or skin, or even scaly for that matter. It felt cold and hard, almost like it was made out of metal. _I guess that's why he's so heavy._ She thought.

She could see the surface now. Just a little more and they would make it in time. She looked back at the figure in the midst of her excitement… only to see his eyes were barely opened. The feeling in his body had also started to disappear. Her fear was coming true. He was dying. And if they don't get out of here soon, then it would be too late to save him. With more determination than ever, Yellow began to swim harder than she ever did before. Her Omastar did the same thing, and soon, the two of them began to see the murky waters around them light up.

She didn't stop, though. Even when her lungs were screaming at her to stop, and her heart felt like it would explode, she didn't stop. The boy's life was in danger, and she would not let him die. With one last stroke, the three of them raced towards the surface and emerged from the depths of the deep.

* * *

><p>Yellow opened her eyes as she and Omny floated above the water. She looked back to shore and could see Chuchu and Ratty waving at her. The two quickly started to swim to the shore, not bothering to stop and take a moment to rest."Hang in there! We're almost there!" she told the boy as they finally reached the shore. The Pikachu and Raticate moved towards the edge and grabbed hold of Yellow's arm, pulling both her and the figure in while the Omastar carefully lifted hem out of the water.<p>

She coughed out loud, spitting out whatever amount of water was already in her. She gave a small smile to her Pokémon and thanked them for their help, to which they replied with one of their own.

She looked at the boy, who was now lying on the grass, and realized that something was terribly wrong. She got up on her feet, slowly though, and walked over to him. She had taken about a few steps before she saw exactly what made her worried. From where she was, she could see that his eyes were not open, his chest was moving in sync with his breathing, even his fingers weren't twitching. That could only mean…

"No!" she cried out as she now ran towards him… but not before seeing his entire figure, which made her stop in her tracks and stare at him with puzzled horror.

The person in front of her was definitely a male and his body was toned but not noticeably muscular. At the same time, though, he was far from being human. His entire body was as black at the night itself, and his eyes, which once held the green and yellow lights she saw earlier, were now completely closed. Two large, crooked antennas that reached down to his back were lying on both sides of his motionless body. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans and something that seemed to resemble a pair of knight's greaves as his boots. His chest was wrapped around in bandages, hinting that he was harmed sometime ago, as she could see the red colouration of his blood seeping through them. There was also a necklace that held a strange symbol on it wrapped around his neck and a black and purple bracelet of a strange design which Yellow had never seen before around his left wrist.

What freaked her out the most was that his right arm was, indeed, made of nothing but metal. From his fingertips to where his shoulder connected to his body, the arm gleamed in metallic silver under the moon light.

Steeling herself at the sight before her, she knelt down beside him and studied his body. Her first thought was to check and see if he still had a pulse. She pressed her fingers against the side of his neck, trying to feel his pulse through there. Her heart sunk when she felt nothing. She then placed her head on top of his chest, being mindful of his injuries, and this time listened for any signs of a heartbeat. The seconds that had passed by felt like hours to her, and she slowly felt the world around her crumble.

"Th…There's no pulse…" she whispered.

Indeed, to her horror, there was nothing. There was no breathing, no heartbeat, nothing. Her breath was ensnared inside of her chest as the tears started to form in her eyes.

"No…" She brought her hands up to her face, trying to hold back her tears. Her choked sobbing could be heard throughout the entire clearing. Her Pokémon heard her and they, too, started to cry. They were unable to save him in time and they've made their trainer cry. They began moving towards her and, with much sorrow, curled up next to her, letting her know that they were sorry that they could not save him.

Yellow felt their sadness moments before they came up to her. This actually made her want to cry even harder. Her Pokémon were blaming themselves for the boy's death. It wasn't their fault, but hers. If she acted sooner, then maybe he would still be alive. But now, all they could do was sit beside the now lifeless boy, their tears falling down to the grass beneath them.

Had she been more aware, she would have heard the faint, yet strong beat that sounded like a drum. The sound was too silent for her to hear at first, but soon after, as it continued to ring, she began to hear it. She heard it through her ears at first, but then she began to hear it all around her. Eventually it began to echo, like she was inside of a cave. She listened to the sound closely a few more times, hearing the sound more clearly now, and immediately her eyes widened.

She placed her head back on the boy's chest, secretly hoping that she wasn't going crazy. As soon as she heard it, she mentally exclaimed in happiness. It was faint in contrast to how she heard it seconds ago, but it was there. A heartbeat. And it was moving at a slow pace. It sounded like he was barely holding on, too.

Not bothering to contain her excitement, she turned towards her Pokémon and practically shouted at the top of her lungs. "He's alive! I heard it! I heard his heartbeat!"

Her Pokémon all shouted happily in response.

She ran to where she had discarded most of her clothes and pulled out a fourth Pokéball, this one revealing a large, three headed bird. She pointed to where Red had went off to and told the bird Pokémon, "Dody! Go and find Red! Let him know what's happened!"

_(On it!)_ Dody replied as he raced to where Red and Pika had gone through before, hoping to find them.

Seeing him run off, Yellow turned her attention to her Pikachu. "Chuchu! Grab my bag! Something in there has to help him!"

_(Okay!)_ The Pikachu called out as she ran to where Yellow's bag was.

Putting her full attention on the now barely alive person before her, she placed both of her hands over where his heart would be and said, "It's okay, mister! You're going to be okay! Just hang in there!"

As Chuchu returned with Yellow bag's in her mouth, she watched as Yellow began to press down on the boy's chest. She remembered seeing this kind of thing done before on a TV show. When someone ran out of air and wasn't breathing, another would try to help them by pushing down on their lungs so that they would need to open and let them breath once more.

She pressed down on the boy's chest for about ten seconds and saw that there was no response Stopping for a second to think over, she realized that there was one other thing that she could do to help him, but just the mere thought about it was embarrassing. Not only would the image never leave her head, but if Red were to come by with both Pika and Dody while she was doing it, then things would get awkward between them. Not like things have already been awkward enough since learning about her true gender. She already betrayed Red once when she didn't tell him her secret; she didn't want to repeat the same thing twice.

She could hear the heartbeat growing weaker by the moment as she continued to fight against the idea. She shook her head to get rid of the thoughts and looked at the boy once more, pushing back a sense of uneasiness as she prepared for the worst. _I really wish Red isn't here at the moment to see this._ She thought as she traced the boy's face with a finger over where his mouth would be. She became rather surprised to see that, other than his eyes, there was nothing else that she could see. No ears, no nose, no hair, not even a mouth. He was almost a faceless being.

At least, she thought he didn't have a mouth until her finger slid into something above his chin. It felt cold to the touch, and she felt something hard where her finger collided with. She knew right away that she found his mouth and teeth. _So he does have one. _She thought as she pulled her finger out and placed one hand on his chin and the other where his nose would probably be. _I hope this works. Otherwise this would have been all for nothing._

She slowly began to move her head closer to the boy's, their lips just a few inches away from each other. Her Pokémon watched with wonder as they saw her move closer and closer until their lips were just a nose away from each other. She pulled back a bit, the thoughts of betraying Red crossing over her mind if he were to return right now. But, somehow, she knew that he would understand. He was always looking out for her and the others. He never carried any thoughts of anger or resentment towards anyone. Not even to his friends. So in a way, he would understand why she would be doing this and be happy that she saved, or at least tried to, save the boy's life. With that thought in mind, she closed the distance between them.

It was strange, feeling someone's lips against hers. It felt awkward that she was doing this in the first place, but it was also very pleasant. His lips felt so soft against her own, even if he was near death. Somehow, his lips felt like they've done something like this before, but she wasn't sure exactly. Maybe he did this with a girl he met. A girl that he probably liked. She remembered having dreams about doing something like this with Red. In fact, it was all she could dream of, or even think of, when they came back from the Hoenn Region. Perhaps, if the time was right, then she could tell him how much he meant to her, and maybe this would be what she would give him. The thoughts of feeling his fiery passion for Pokémon battles through his lips made her mind go numb as she began to deepen the kiss.

_Stop thinking of these thoughts!_ Her mind screamed at her, snapping her back to reality. _Remember the reason why you're doing this! There's no time to fantasize about doing this with Red. You're supposed to be saving the person who's dying in front of you! Not kiss him!_

Shaken by the mental screaming at herself, she pulled back from the kiss. She took a moment to think over what happened and tried to shake away the thoughts that were already plaguing her mind. She couldn't believe what she was doing. She almost gave someone who she never met before her first kiss, the kiss that she was saving for Red. She shook her head furiously so that the images would leave. She has never felt so ashamed of herself in her life. She almost blew her chances of being with Red!

Remembering what she was supposed to do, she looked back at the boy and, with much hesitation, moved her head closer his, both her hands on the same spots as before. The thoughts came back within her mind, almost preventing her from continuing on with what she originally intended to do. Shaking her head to drive away these thoughts, she pressed her lips onto his once more. She opened her mouth slightly and blew as much of her oxygen as she could into his mouth. She pulled back as she felt the air disappear from her lungs and breathed in some more before she repeated the process. She did this about three or four more times before she finally pulled back and began taking in mouthfuls of air. She was already exhausted from using her powers in the first place, and that little swim thing that she did to help get the boy out of the lake nearly burned her dry of what little remained of her strength. Now, after giving the boy oxygen multiple times, she was already beginning to feel lightheaded. She felt like she would collapse at any second.

_No._ She thought to herself. _Not yet. Not after I'm so close._

With her last bit of strength, she pressed down on his chest once again, her muscles already burning with fatigue. She kept going until she could feel her arms shaking in pain. But that didn't slow her down. In fact it was making her do it harder than she did before. She wasn't going to stop. She knew that he was still alive, and right now, he needed her to help him. And she wasn't going to abandon him now. Not now, not ever.

"Please! Wake up! Wake up!" Her tears were already cascaded down her cheeks like waterfalls as she continued to press down on the boy's chest. She wasn't going to allow him to die. Not after everything she's done up to now. "Please wake up!"

She literally slammed both her hands against his chest as she cried out. And as she did, her pleas were answered. The boy's eyes soon opened up, revealing the green and yellow lights that she saw before, and spat out a mouthful of water. She jumped back from the sudden action, and then quickly recollected herself as she saw the boy coughing up the water that was in his lungs. He was on his back as he finished, his body shaken as to what happened and his eyes closed. She could see his breathing going rapid at one point, but then slowing down until he began to breathe normally. She couldn't contain her happiness any longer. She did it! She saved his life!

Thinking quickly, she reached for her bag and pulled out some towels and grabbed the bag of sandwiches that Red gave to her earlier just before he left. She was just about to turn around and help the boy out before she heard shouting.

Turning around, her eyes landed on the mysterious boy, standing on one foot and one knee, his hand gripping around something that hung at the side of his belt, looking at Ratty. She guessed that when he woke up, he saw Ratty in front of him and got spooked out. Ratty, however, was happy that the boy was alive and gave out a gleeful smile,_ (Hi! Nice to meet you!)_

She looked at the boy in alarm as he set himself in a stance and gripped onto something that was hanging around his waist. From the way it was shaped, it was a dagger. She then relaxed a bit when he saw her recognizing the Pokémon before him, but still looked at it with much confusion.

She continued to watch as the boy as he now began to look around his surroundings, taking in every bit of information he could find. He was probably making mental notes to himself, figuring out where he was. His eyes were now on her Pokémon, glancing at them one at a time as though he was studying them.

Her curiosity finally getting the best of her, she slowly approached the strange boy and timidly asked, "Are you okay?"

She saw the boy turn his head around in response, and as he did, she got a clear look at his eyes. Even from under the light of the moon, they still shined as bright as they did underwater. She could faintly see what she thought were his pupils, which were a darker shade of colouration than the rest of his eyes. It made little difference, though, as the eyes still looked the same. Even from up close it was difficult to see the darker colouration. She could also see something very faint in his right eye, something that seemed to take shape into something she has never seen before, but she soon dismissed the thought.

There was something else that she could see, something that made her really curious. She wasn't sure why, but the way his eyes looked… It was as if she could see right through them. Like she could read everything that his heart and soul were telling her like a book. And the way they looked at her, the way they shined; it was something that made her heart hurt. She could see a great amount of sadness and pain written on them, like the owner of those eyes have seen terrible things in his life; things that would have driven anybody to the brinks of madness. She tried to look away from them, but something was preventing her from doing so, as if they wanted her to see all the pain and suffering that this boy has been through.

Snapping back to reality once more, she could see that the boy's eyes were still locked onto her, looking at each and every part of her. She could feel his sharp eyes moving to one spot to the next as they took in every bit of information about her. His head turned slightly, looking behind her as he noticed the camping gear she and Red have brought with them, as well as the rest of her clothing. There was a sense of uneasiness in the air as the boy continued to observe her like he never saw another human before. She found it to be awkward, since she has never been observed like this by anyone else before, other than her friends. It was like he could see into her past, into her future. It was tense, to say the least.

"I-I'm glad that you're okay. We were all worried about you." she said as gently as she could. To her surprise, the boy paid no attention and continued observing her. She felt her cheeks burn up and spoke again, louder this time, "I… I wasn't sure what to do exactly when I first saw you. I mean, I thought that maybe you were some sort of Pokémon that might be terrorizing the other Pokémon that were in the lake, but you don't seem to look like the kind of person to do such a thing, so I apologize for the inconvenience and hope that you could forgive me for misjudging–"

"…Yellow?"

She stopped talking right as she heard his voice. She could feel her fear building up inside of her as she looked back into his eyes. They were now entirely focused on hers, as if they knew something about her that she didn't know. Frightened, she started moving back a few steps, her eyes locked onto his.

_How does he know my name? _Her mind screamed as the presence she felt before return, now circling around her and the strange boy.


	4. A Little Talk About Bravery

**(A/N [July 2, 2013]: This chapter was by far the one that gave me the most trouble. More than five pages of unwanted text removed from the original and fixing the words that each character said. There was just so much stuff to edit that I ended up staying up for the night. And even still, I don't like it. Maybe it's just the self-critic in me, but I feel that nobody likes the first set of chapters. There's many reasons I can probably point out, but it's like 8:33 PM over here and I've been up for five hours now, and I have to go to sleep again soon.**

**Goddamn, I hate all-nighters.)**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter 3: A Little Talk About Bravery<strong>

Red hummed a quiet tune as he plucked another Oran Berry from the bush it was on. He carefully placed the berry on top of the already large pile that his left arm carried over his chest. Turning his head, he saw Pika using his electricity to zap another berry from atop a tree. Walking over to the slightly singed berry, the Pikachu grabbed it with its mouth and ran to where a small pouch was. The Pikachu then dropped it in and grabbed the bag with his mouth, proceeding to another bush filled with berries.

Red wasn't sure what he was more happy about; spending a night with Yellow camping in the Viridian Forest, or seeing Pika collecting so many berries for Chuchu. The two Pikachus were so close to each other, they were practically inseparable. _Yellow would definitely agree with me on that._

Upon mentioning her name, his mind raced back to the question he had earlier. If he did tell her how he truly felt about her, would things still be the same between them? Would they end up together as a couple? And what if things don't turn out so well? Would they still be friends then, or would their friendship be ruined?

_I shouldn't be thinking of these things, because I already know the answer to them._ He thought to himself. _Yellow's the kind of person who would always be there for her friends and forgive others. She's not the kind of person to hold any kind of grudges to anyone, not even to her enemies. She's way too honest and nice to do such a thing. Even if I do tell her, and things don't turn out so well, we'd still be best friends. We've been through a lot together, so I don't see any reason why our friendship should be broken if I confess to her how I feel._

_But…_ His mind trailed off once more as he remembered something. _I still don't understand why she risked her life to save mine years ago. Did Blue tell her to do it because I was a friend? Or did she do it because she was worried about me? And even after telling me her secret, why does she continue to wear that hat? It doesn't make any sense. I can't help but feel that Yellow is keeping something from me, something that she wouldn't tell me if it would involve hurting me._

He shook his head roughly to drive away these thoughts and clenched his free hand into a fist. _No! I shouldn't be thinking of these things! Yellow is a good friend; one of the greatest friends that I've ever had! If I keep thinking of her like this, then what kind of a friend am I?_

He was soon broken out of his train of thought as he heard something approaching him. He looked behind him just as Pika returned by his side, aware of what was happening. It sounded like footsteps, and judging by how fast the noises were, something was quickly approaching them . Just before he could give out a command to Pika, the owner of the footsteps quickly came into view… and turned out to be none other than Yellow's Dodrio!

Surprised by this, Red quickly spoke to the three headed bird, "Dody? What are you doing here? Did something happen?"

"_Dodriiio!"_ Dody responded as he began motioning one of his heads to where he came from. Red followed its gaze and realized that the path the Dodrio took to get to him and Pika… was the same path that led back to the campsite. Which could only mean…

"Yellow…" he said faintly before looking back at the Dodrio. "Dody, are you saying that something happened to Yellow and she told you to come find us?" Red asked.

The Dodrio nodded with all three of its heads.

"Then we have to get back!" Red discarded his supply of berries and hopped onto the Dodrio's back. Pika soon followed and climbed up as well, the pouch of berries still clenched between his teeth. Looking up into the sky, Red spotted out his Aerodactyl and shouted, "Aero! Lead us back to the campsite! And hurry!"

"_RAAAAAWWWWRRRRRRRRR!"_ The Aerodactyl responded as it circled one last time above their heads and flew back to the campsite. Red held onto the bridles that were wrapped around the Dodrio's beaks tightly as it raced after the Aerodactyl.

Their destination underway, Red continued to have the same thought as to what could have happened to Yellow if she needed him this badly. He hoped that Yellow was okay. Otherwise, the person responsible for harming her would be in serious trouble.

* * *

><p>Yellow was not, in any way, okay.<p>

She continued to stare at the strange boy, the anxiety already consuming the rest of her senses. How did this person, this _thing_, or whatever it was supposed to be, know what her name was? She had never met this person before, let alone even heard of him, and yet he said her name as if he knew her from somewhere. There was no way he could know!

The boy's eyes were still trained onto her, the surprise and wonder evident in them. That sight made Yellow push back a gulp as she tried to think up an explanation as to how he could have known her. But to her misfortune, there was nothing that she could think of, nothing that could help explain the situation.

"How… How do you know my name?" she asked, not bothering to hide her fear.

The boy seemed to have noticed her by now and looked at her confused. "What?"

"My name. How do you know my name?" she repeated, this time a bit slower.

"Your name?" She saw that he was struggling to speak to her, something that worried her even more. "I-I didn't know that was your name."

He was lying. It was obvious. She found herself shouting at him. "But you did! You said 'Yellow' a few seconds ago and…"

"Please, don't shout." The boy said as he brought both his hands up to his ears. "My ears are still sore after nearly drowning."

Just before Yellow could say anything else to the strange boy, she saw him trying to stand up on his feet. He almost lost his balance a few times before he managed to get into a kneeling position. Now Yellow was shocked. Was he really trying to stand up after what he went through? After he nearly died?! She moved just as the boy began to stumble to the ground, dropping everything that was in her arms. Had Yellow not stopped his fall by then, he would have surely injured himself a lot more than he already was.

"Careful." she said quietly, "You're still injured from what happened."

"I'm alright." The boy said as he tried to stand up again, only to begin coughing once more and collapsed as a result. Yellow was unprepared for the sudden action and lost her grip, making the boy land on his side and cough. After a few seconds went by, the boy stopped his coughing and gazed up into the sky, making low growling noises. "I. Hate. Water. More than anything."

She looked at him once more just as he turned his head to return her gaze. She could feel her fear disappearing from inside her. So far, this person has not shown any hostility towards her or any of her Pokémon. He even sounded… kind for some odd reason. While she was grateful for that, there was still something about him that bothered her greatly. Mainly on how he was able to make that light appear.

Remembering the towels that she had in her arms, Yellow moved to where she dropped them and picked one up. She shook it to remove the dirt and grass that was on it, then reached out and gingerly placed it on his hand. "Here," she began meekly. "I figured you might need this after, well, you know…"

The boy happily accepted the towel and began to wipe it around his head. Yellow watched in shock as the boy grabbed one of his antennas and wrapped the towel around it. Trying her best to not sound disturbed, she asked, "Are you sure that you're okay?"

"Well…" The boy began as he moved the towel to his left arm, "Aside from being wet and a little shaken that I nearly drowned, I'm perfectly fine. Thanks for your concern." After he finished cleaning the rest of his body, he placed the towel over his shoulder and held out his hand to her. "I don't think we properly introduced ourselves. I'm Logan. Logan Stone."

Yellow, still a bit nervous about him, slowly placed her hand on his and gently shook it. "I'm Yellow. But you already knew that."

"Yellow? That's quite an unusual name." He began to shift his legs around until they crossed over one another and continued, "And I don't think that it's your full name, either."

"Huh?"

"Well, I told you both my first and last name, so it should be fair for you to say yours as well. It isn't really a proper greeting unless you do so."

Yellow could not believe it. Why would he want to know her full name? Was he being sincere and wanted to know her full name because she saved his life? Or was he going to use her as leverage for whatever twisted ideas that he has within his mind?

As if reading her own thoughts, Logan said, "I'm not going to use you for some sort of conspiracy plot. I just want to know the name of the girl who saved my life."

Now she was scared. She has every right to be because there was no way that he could have known what she was thinking. Was he some kind of psychic? No way could he have made such a lucky guess. She felt like going out to find Red right now and let him know what was happening.

…Then again, he was being nice to her. And he hasn't done anything wrong to her to convince her otherwise. Maybe she should tell him. Taking a deep breath, she looked at him in the eyes and said, "My name is Yellow Caballero."

"Yellow Caballero," Logan repeated. "Quite a fitting name, I should say so."

She was surprised by the tone he gave out when he said her name. Like he knew about it from the start.

She was about to open her mouth once more to speak before she saw him holding out the towel in front of him and his other hand beside it. Before she knew it, she began to feel a wave of intense heat coming from nowhere. Even her Pokémon took notice of the strange change in temperature and hurriedly ran towards her. It was making her feel even more exhausted than she was before. Worried that it could probably be a Fire Pokémon on the loose, she turned to look at Logan to warn him… before she found out where the heat was really coming from.

It wasn't a Pokémon that was doing it. It was Logan. The heat wave was coming out of his hand and was wrapping around the towel. Yellow watched as steam started to appear from it where the water was absorbed and rose up into the air. After a few moments, the heat soon vanished and Logan handed the towel to her.

"Thanks for the towel, Yellow." he said before placing it back in her hand.

The moment he did, Yellow could feel the hard, metallic structure of his right arm. It was as cold as ice, too, which was surprising considering that he just created a heat wave with it. "How did you do that?" she asked, not bothering to hide her shock.

"The same way I made the light underwater for you to find me." he replied as though it was a daily thing.

"You did?" She soon shook her head again as she looked back at him with confused eyes. "But how did you do that? How could you have made that light and that heat wave? No one can do that except for a Pokémon!"

"Except that I am neither a Pokémon nor a human." he stated flatly before silently adding, "Or… at least I was human…"

Yellow could now see the sadness return to his eyes as he said that. What did he mean by 'was'? Did that mean that this terrifying appearance of his was not his real one? She was about to ask him what he meant before she heard a low grumbling noise. She looked around for the source of the noise before they rested upon Logan, whose hand was over his stomach.

Slightly embarrassed, Logan let out a small chuckle. "Guess I forgot to eat something before I left."

Yellow couldn't help but laugh as she grabbed the bag of sandwiches and pulled one of them out. "Here. It's not much, but it's the least I can do for you."

He looked at her quizzically and pointed at her, "Are you sure you don't want it? You look like you're a little short on food, and I don't want to take any of it away from you."

"I'm fine with it." She smiled as she placed the sandwich in his hand, "Besides, I'm not really that hungry at the moment."

Not wanting to be rude, Logan accepted the sandwich and began nibbling on it. He knew that she was lying. He could hear her stomach growling even louder than his. Yet for some reason, she was more concerned about his well-being. He looked back at the girl just in time to see her grabbing her bag with her free hand and making her way back to where the rest of her clothes were. Her Pokémon followed after her as she placed the small bag on the ground and reached for one of the three larger ones beside her. Logan decided to follow and approached the small campsite, standing just a few feet away from the small girl. He saw her pulling out another black shirt and blue jeans from inside of the bag's contents. She stood up and turned around.

The moment she did and saw Logan standing right in front of her, she let out a small eep. She heard him approaching her because of his greaves. But the way he stood there, with his eyes glowing in the middle of the night, and his jet black skin camouflaging his appearance, it was enough to scare her senseless. Seeing her reaction, Logan let out a small sigh.

It was quite often that this kind of thing happened. He would try to move somewhere, and even though he would make a lot of noise depending on what he was standing on, people would still get spooked when they see him. He couldn't really help it. It was one of those things that was beyond his control.

Regaining herself after the small spook, Yellow shyly looked up at him and said, "Um… I don't wish to be rude or anything… but you see… uh… I don't have a tent set up, and I have to… um… you know…"

Logan swallowed the piece of the now half-eaten sandwich before he finished for her, "You want to change out of your soaked clothes so that you can put on some fresh ones, and need me to look the other way, right?"

"Um… yes." she timidly said.

"You know I can use my powers and dry you so you won't have to change. With your permission, of course." he explained.

Yellow thought about it. While it did seem like a better idea, she reminded herself that the heat could cause her clothes to shrink. Plus, the heat was unbearable to withstand, as she realized that she almost fainted from it. She was already exhausted after everything that's happened so far, so she decided against the notion. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't want you to overstrain yourself. You're already in a lot of pain, and I don't want to make your condition worse than it already is."

"What if I set up the tent for you?" he asked as he pointed towards the camping gear, "I can have it set up so you won't have to change out in the open."

"You'd do that… for me?"

"Of course." He took one last bite out of the sandwich before he moved to where the bags were.

He reached for one of them and pulled out four wooden stakes, some rope and a long piece of tarp. He then took a few steps away from the bags and Yellow, looking around for a perfect spot to set the tent up.

The process took a couple of minutes or so, with some trial and error on Logan's part, but was eventually able to get the tent up and standing and placed a few sleeping bags inside, some books and a lantern. He stepped out after lighting the lantern and walked over to her.

"There you go. One tent built for two." He raised a hand up to his chin as he realized what he said, "At least I think it is. Did you come here with someone by any chance?"

Remembering Red, she felt her entire face flush into a deep red. "Um… yes. But he left some time ago to go find some more food after I've forgotten to bring some." She picked up her tunic and belt from the ground as Logan did the same for her hat and boots. The two began making their way to the tent as Logan continued listening to Yellow, "Dody left a few minutes ago to go find him when I pulled you out, so they should be back right about…"

She let out another eep and frantically turned to face Logan. "Oh no! They'll be back soon! This isn't good! I can't let him see me like this!" She grabbed her hat and boots from his arms in one swift motion. "I'm so sorry! But I really need to change right now! I don't want Red to see me like this! I'm really sorry, Logan!" Then, before he knew it, she ran inside of the tent and zipped up the door.

Logan stood in the clearing, his eyes wide open in astonishment at the little display Yellow just made. Shaking his head slightly to focus, he slowly walked up to the tent and sat beside it. He could hear Yellow moving around in a hurry as he saw her silhouette from the light that was inside. He saw her silhouette removing her shirt and used one of the towels she brought with her to wipe her face and hair. Turning his gaze away, he looked back up into the night sky before speaking, "So Yellow… if you don't mind me asking, how come you and your friend are all the way out here in the middle of a forest?"

"Most of the time I come here to the Viridian Forest to camp with my Pokémon. When I was getting ready to leave, Red came by and asked if he could join me. I thought that it would be a great opportunity for us to spend some time together, since we rarely get the chance to do so, so I said yes."

Logan held back a smile as he continued on the conversation, "And I take it everything's been going well so far?"

From inside the tent, Yellow stopped what she was doing and held the towel against her bare chest. "What do you mean?"

"You sounded very happy when you answered my question, and if I were to guess, you showed him something that he enjoyed."

There was silence for a bit before he heard a response, "I did. It was amazing. I don't think I've ever seen him that happy before."

His ears picked up on the audible tone that was in her voice. It sounded close to… affection. Love, perhaps? A slight smile appeared on his face as soon as his mind clicked. "Sounds like you and this Red guy are more than 'just friends'."

Upon saying that, Yellow soon burst out of the tent, her hands keeping the towel over her bare chest. Her hair was untied, so he was able to see it reached down just below her waist. A massive blush was on her face as well, making her look about as red as a tomato. "Wha…! W-W-Why would you ever think that? I mean, we may be close, but we're just friends! Even if I feel my body burning up every time I'm near him, or that keep having dreams about the two of us kissing and cuddling and sleeping together, that doesn't prove that I love him or anything!"

A sudden silence filled the clearing as the two stared at each other. The blush on her face grew bigger as she soon realized what she had just said, as well as taking notice of her lack of clothing. Embarrassed, she pulled the towel closer to her and ran back inside the tent. She sat there in the light of the lantern, trying her best to calm her heart over that embarrassing situation. When she felt her heart slowing down a bit, she walked back to the door and zipped it open enough for her to poke her head out.

"Um… what happened just now… Could you… um… maybe…" she stammered, the blush still making her face beet red.

Logan let out a slight chuckle and lifted his hand up to interrupt her. "Your secrets safe with me."

Smiling, Yellow retreated back into the tent and continued where she left off. She wrapped the towel around her chest and reached out for a brush that was lying on the ground beside her foot.

Logan meanwhile was inspecting each and every bag that was beside him, taking note of the contents that were in each one. When his eyes landed on Yellow's bag, he saw a large pad of paper with a box of crayons and a pencil beside it. Curious, he grabbed the book and carefully pulled it out before setting the cover in front of him. On it was a large title that said _'SKETCH'_ and another on the bottom right hand corner that said _'Yellow'_. As he flipped it around to inspect the back, he called out, "Hey Yellow. Do you have an interest in drawing?"

"Yes. In fact it's one of my main hobbies. That, as well as fishing. Why do you ask?" she asked as she put on a fresh shirt in place of her old one.

Logan turned the sketchbook until he was looking at the front cover again. ""If it's alright with you, can I take a look at some of your drawings?"

Yellow stopped what she was doing and let out a small gasp. "W-W-Why would you want to do that?"

She sounded so nervous. "Just curious. And like you said, drawing is one of your hobbies, so you must put a lot of effort into your sketches." he explained.

"Y-Yes… But…"

"I promise I'll only take a peek at a few of them."

Yellow thought hard for a moment. She didn't really want to show her drawings to someone she just met. It would be too embarrassing. Well, not as much as earlier, but even so. But… couldn't help but notice the kindness that was in his voice. Maybe he was just curious about her work.

She pushed back a worried gulp before she finally replied. "Alright. But… only a peek, okay?"

"You have my word, Yellow."

And just like that, he did exactly as he promised Yellow, by opening her sketchbook and skimming through the pages. He looked at the page he was on for a solid second, making a quick mental note of what was there, before moving on to the next. Most of them were sketches of Pokémon and people, and though they were well drawn, he also noticed how old they were, almost five years or so. There were some words on the pages as well, but he ignored them.

It wasn't until he got to the more recent drawings that he took a better look at them. The drawings so far were far more detailed than the old ones, showing patches of fur, ruffled feathers, even a couple of humans with strands of hair instead of the outline. He made an effort to skim through the drawings and move on to the next one, but he couldn't help but feel amazed at such outstanding work.

_The girl's a phenomenal artist. Much better than half the people I've met. _He looked back at the tent and saw that Yellow was still brushing her hair, which soon brought another thought into mind. _She really takes great care with her hair. Maybe she's doing it to impress this 'Red'._ Remembering the words that she said earlier, he stifled back a chuckle as he recalled that she had just admitted how her true feelings about her friend. _I should probably keep it a secret then. I don't think she'll want me to embarrass her in front of her 'boyfriend'._

The moment he flipped over to the next page, he raised a non-existent eyebrow. _Maybe I went a little too far._ He thought as he stared intently at the drawings.

Indeed he did, for on both pages were several sketches of Yellow and what Logan assumed was Red. The drawings depicted them sleeping side by side underneath the shade of a tree, lying on the grass with her pointing at something at the sky for him to see. There was even one of them nuzzling their noses together.

But there was one drawing in particular that caught his attention. And it was by far the most detailed out of all of them. The drawing was of both Yellow and Red, both wearing a dress and a suit, kissing in front of an altar. And from the looks of it, it was obvious that they were enjoying it.

_So that answers my question._ He thought as he closed the book and set it back in the girl's bag. _Red must have made quite an impression on her if she's been drawing the both of them doing those kinds of things. But, from the way they're drawn, it seems like she's secluding herself into drawing the things that she secretly desires to do with Red._ His eyes wandered off to the lake as he cupped a hand beneath his chin, his mind already deep in thought. _Maybe I'm over thinking it, but… is it possible that Yellow is afraid of telling Red the truth?_

He soon heard the tent door beginning to unzip and looked over to see Yellow stepping out, this time wearing all of her clothes. He was now able to take a good look at her. Other than the orange tunic with its green rims over her black shirt, the bottom portion of her blue jeans tucked inside of her purple boots, and the belt-pouch strapped around her waist, she looked almost exactly like she did when he first saw him. Well, except for the straw hat, which upon closer examination he could see that the ponytail was tucked inside of it. With the hat on, she could pass for a young boy. Would have worked, if he hadn't already known she was a girl.

He felt a slight sense of curiosity about the topic and pointed at the hat, "If you don't mind me asking, why are you wearing that hat if it means hiding your hair? Are you worried about people finding out that that you're a girl?"

Upon instinct, Yellow brought her hands up and waved them. "No, no, no! It's not like that! A lot of people already know that I'm a girl and…"

"Well if that's the case, then why do you still wear it? It doesn't really suit you, to be honest."

Seeing no point in continuing with this argument, Yellow sat down onto the grass beside him and brought her knees closer to her body. She removed the hat and held it in front, fumbling its edges as Logan waited for a response.

"I'm… not so sure… if I should tell you." she said quietly, "I mean… I don't want to be rude or anything, and I really think that you're a nice guy and all. But the thing is… I just… I really…"

Logan knew what she was saying and nodded. "I understand. You don't wish to tell me since I'm somebody you hardly even know, and you think that I might tell a lot of people about it."

"Um… yes."

"Just to let you know, Yellow, I'm not the kind of person to do such a thing. I keep all of my friend's secrets to myself and never tell anyone else unless I deem it to be important." He looked at her small form and saw her eyes peeking at him over the edge of her hat. "I just want to let you know that, if there is anything you want to let out of your chest, or if you ever need anybody to talk to; then I would be more than happy to listen."

Yellow thought about it. He really was a nice person, otherwise he wouldn't be treating her so kindly. But what he said before, about keeping his friend's secrets to himself; did that mean that he saw her as a friend? _It would make sense for him to think of me like that since saved him, but I think there's another reason why he would consider me as one._ Holding back her fear, she silently prayed to whoever was up there beyond the sky to not let her say what she was about to tell Logan before she faced him, "Before I tell you, do you promise to not tell anybody about what I'm about to tell you, or laugh at me? Even if my friends force you to tell them, or bribe you, promise me that you won't tell them anything?"

Logan placed a hand on top of her head and gently ruffled her hair, something that he often did to others to let him know he understood. "Promise."

Grateful, she inhaled deeply for a few seconds before breathing it all out. She looked back at the lake with sadden eyes and began, "The truth is… when Blue met me three years ago, she told me that Red was captured by the Elite Four. I wanted to help him, and she let me, but she also told me that I had to wear this in order to keep my identity a secret. She said that if they found out who I was, then they would try to find some way to make sure that I didn't save Red."

"In other words," Logan said as he grasped onto what she was saying, "Any place that you cared about, or any friends and family that you had, they would use them as a way to make sure you abandoned your mission. Like hostages."

"Yes."

"But that was _years_ ago. It doesn't explain why you're still wearing it. Maybe there's another reason why."

"…No." she admitted. "There is another, but it's just… I don't… I don't want to say it."

This was starting to catch Logan's attention, but he said in a polite manner, "You don't need to tell me about it if you don't want to. It's up to you to decide whether you wish to say it or not."

She looked back at him and gazed at his eyes. The sadness and pain that were once in them were now replaced with pure concern. Concern for her. She mentally smiled at herself. _He really is a nice person._

Looking back at the lake, she took another deep breath before speaking once more, "Alright. Th-thing is… the reason why Blue told me to wear this hat… was because… I…" Logan leaned in closer as Yellow started to mumble the rest of it. "Was because I was too young… too young…" He moved his head until it was a few inches away from the girl's. He was now having a hard time hearing Yellow as she buried her face in her knees.

Then, almost unexpectedly, her head reared right up and she shouted out at the top of her lungs, temporarily disorienting Logan. "I was too young to use my feminism as a weapon!"

Stunned that she shouted out the truth, Yellow quickly turned around to look at Logan, who was staring at her with wide open eyes.

Then, just as she feared, he opened his mouth and laughed.

She felt her tears rolling down her cheeks as Logan began to laugh hysterically, his hand clutching to his stomach as pain began to build up. She stared at him and, without any warning, punched him in the arm. The action stunned the both of them, Yellow mostly because she had never done such a violent thing before, until she shook her head. She stared at him intently, her pain very clear in her eyes. "You promised me that you wouldn't laugh!" she shouted at him.

Logan stared back at her with a calm expression and said, "I think you're misunderstanding, Yellow. I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at the person who told you such a ridiculous thing."

"Huh?!"

"Let me explain," he began, "Feminism can't be used as a weapon. Never has been, never will. You can't 'weaponize' your looks when all it is is just wooing people to do whatever you want them to do. To me, people who do that kind of thing are either too full of themselves or just enjoy having tons of people lusting for them."

He turned his head towards Yellow and stared at her straight in the eyes. She could see how sharp they were, how they carried such a serious and frightening gaze. "You, on the other hand, are not the kind of person to do such a thing." She felt something build up in her chest as he continued, "To me, you seem like the kind of girl who cares less about looking beautiful for others and only care about being with close friends and family. You look like a sweet and honest girl who enjoys every moment with her friends and family. I'll even admit, you look pretty cute." He could see a faint blush appearing on her face upon saying that. "Now Yellow, do you really want to throw away all that just to follow a stupid lie your friend said? Even when you already have everything you have right now?"

Her shoulders slumped as she took in every word of what the boy in front of her said. She didn't want to admit it, but he was telling the truth. If she went and used her looks as a weapon, then she would be just like Blue. Even if she is a good friend, she didn't want to be just like her. She didn't want people to see her as someone she wasn't as, or as some kind of… trophy girl. She wanted people to know her for who she already is. If she did try to be someone different, there was a chance that she might do something wrong and end up losing all of her friends. She didn't want that to happen. She didn't want to lose all of her amazing friends, especially Red.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Logan speaking again, "You know, I think there's another reason why you still wear that hat." She noticed the slight pause he made as though he was trying to build up dramatic tension before he finally spoke, "You wear that hat because it makes you feel brave, correct?"

She looked at him in shock. "What do you-"

"You know _exactly_ what I mean. You think that the hat is what's making you feel braver; that every decision you've made so far were because of that hat." He averted his gaze from her and looked back at the lake. "Let me tell you a little something about bravery. Bravery isn't something that's measured based on what you wear, or what you say to others, or from the actions that you perform. Maybe not true on the actions part, but let's not get carried away." He lifted his robotic hand and looked down at his palm. "Bravery is what exists within the heart. Every choice that we make, every action we perform, are all because of what are heart is telling us. It's what makes us decide the harsh questions and choices that we're given, especially during dark times. Many would say that it's just instincts, but there's more to it than that. People think that they can't do something because they aren't brave enough to do it, but the truth is that _everyone_ is brave, even when they don't know it. The problem is people fail to see it with their own eyes. They fail to notice that the thing that they've been searching for so long has been with them since the day they were born. You wear that hat because you feel like you don't possess the kind of bravery that your friends have."

Yellow was too stunned to say anything. Again he was right, which only now made her heart ache. She always secretly wished to be as brave as her friends, to be as brave as Red, and that was the reason why she kept her hat. Even after everyone found out about her real gender, she still continued wearing it because it made her feel… secured. It made her feel like she was different, almost braver than she was before. But after hearing Logan talk about his perspective on bravery, she started having second thoughts.

As if noticing her trouble, Logan spoke once more, "A hat is nothing special. It's just what it is. A hat. Even if you haven't worn it, the decisions you've made were what made you feel brave because they were made from the heart. If you did refuse to wear the hat your friend tried to give you, but still went ahead to search for Red, would it have made any difference? Would you still be treated the same way like before? Or would people treat you differently and understand, or be confused, as to why you would want to put your life in danger to find?" He took a slight pause and took a deep breath, feeling his throat a little dry from speaking so much, "I understand why you would be conflicted with this kind of thing, since it was _Him _that showed it to you on the day he saved you. The day you two first met, correct?"

She stared at him, mouth agape. "How… How did you…"

"Know?" When he saw her nodding her head, he smirked, "Let's just say I'm good at understanding people." Before she could say anything, he placed his hand on the girl's head and patted her. "You're lucky to have him as a friend. And after everything that I've seen in the past few minutes, I know that you want to be more than just friends with him."

He removed his hand from the girl's head and kept his gaze trained onto hers. "You have dreams where you spend time with him and experience the joys and wonders that the world has to offer to the both of you. He's the only person whose always in thoughts every time you try to think of one of your friends, the only one capable of filling that lonely feeling within your heart. You want him to be the one who will always be by your side to the very end. Am I correct so far?"

All he got as a response from her was a silent nod. "My advice to you, Yellow; don't give up hope." He continued. "Even if there are people or obstacles who try to stop you or ruin your chances of being with him, never _ever_ give up. If you do, you'll never be truly happy with anything. A friend of mine once did that a long time ago, and he lost someone he secretly loved ever since. Hasn't been himself since then." he growled inwardly before realizing he was getting sidetracked, "My point being is that if you give yourself a little more faith than you do now and tell him the truth, then you'll never feel empty again."

She could hardly believe it. Everything that he's said up to now has been true. Her sense of bravery, her feelings for Red, all of it was true. Which soon brought up the one question that she had been meaning to ask Logan in the first place…

"Who are you, Logan?"

She saw his smile faltering away, and replaced with a sad look. He looked away until he was staring at the lake again. Even though he was not looking at her, she could see that his eyes once again carried the same expression when she first looked at them… and she was now regretting herself for even asking him that question. "Forgive me, but I'd rather not talk about it. It's… personal."

Yellow could see the way Logan's eyes glowed in the night. She knew that something was troubling him. She recalled seeing the same kind of look earlier, and like before, it made her heart ache. If this was what Logan was feeling, then she felt terrible for him. How could he feel this much pain and still continue to move on? If she felt like this, then she would already be in her room and cry in her pillow for weeks on end. Just a mere glance at his sadden eyes was enough to send her to the verge of tears. What could have possible happened to him that would make him feel like this, and refuse to talk about it?

She was about to apologize to him for asking him that question before a loud shout interrupted her, catching both hers and Logan's attention.

"YELLOOOOWW!"

She looked over Logan from where she sat to where the shout originated from. She could faintly make out a shadow coming through the line of trees. The shadow drew closer and she could distinctively see the three similarly shaped heads of one of them approaching the clearing. Bursting out from behind the bushes, she soon realized that the shadow with the three heads was none other than her Dody. She thought for a moment. She sent Dody to go find Red when she saw Logan in the lake. But if he was here, then that means–

Her thoughts were proven right as a boy with red clothing and raven coloured hair jumped off the Dodrio and ran to where she was, his Pikachu by his side. There was no mistaking it. His red eyes, his trademark hat and clothes, his Pikachu… it was definitely him. She found herself standing up from where she was and running towards him. "Red!" she happily cried out as she took another step towards him.

Time began to slow down the moment she took that step. The world around her moved at an agonizingly slow pace. She no longer saw the night sky and the millions of stars, she no longer saw the patchy tree tops that surrounded them, all she saw in her line of sight were Red's legs, the grass, and her own two feet. She felt Red's strong arms wrap around her body and pull her in. She could not tell what was happening, but she felt one of his arms trailing along her back and the other one around her arm. She felt herself lying on the field as her back was resting upon his leg. Her hat flew off of her head from Red's movement and landed beside them, letting her ponytail flow down along her side. She tried to move her own legs, but they would not respond. She tried lifting her arms, but they would not obey. All she could move was her head, which she turned slightly to look at Red, whose once fiery red eyes were now clouded with concern.

"Yellow! Are you okay?" he asked, his uneasiness evident in his voice.

Yellow began to turn red when she realized that her face was inches away from Red's. "I-I'm fine, Red! Don't worry!" she responded rather hesitantly, trying her best to remain calm despite her position. "I'm just a little tired, that's all!"

No sooner had she said that did she let out a loud sneeze, then shivered intensely. She saw Red moving his free hand up to her forehead, which intensified her blush even more. "You're freezing cold." he exclaimed in shock, "What happened?"

Yellow fidgeted with her fingers as she spoke. "W-Well… when you left earlier to go find some food, I was going to set up the tent… and then, um… the lake started t-to light up… and… uh…" She couldn't say anything to him. She was stammering too much to even make sense. She felt so embarrassed.

She was so caught up on trying to talk to Red that she failed to notice Logan kneeling beside her and Red, or notice him talking until she heard his voice. "What she's trying to say is that she saw something happening to the lake, saw me drowning, and upon instinct dived down with her Pokémon to come help me." He could see that both of them were staring at him, surprised that he approached them with such silence. He decided to break it and gave them both a warm smile. "If it wasn't for Yellow, I wouldn't be alive at the moment."

Yellow gave him a silent nod while Red was beaming happily. He stared back at the girl in his arms and gave her a wide grin. "You saved him? That's awesome, Yellow!"

"T-Thank you." she said silently. She soon remembered Logan, whose gaze was fixated on the two trainers. "Red, this is Logan. Logan… this is Red."

Logan bowed his head slightly. "Nice to meet you, Red."

"Same here." Red replied. "I wish I could give you a proper greeting, but my hands are kind of full at the moment."

Logan looked back at Yellow and saw her face getting redder by the second. A young girl in the arms of her secret love, and she could do nothing but blush. He could not help but smile at the sight. "I see." He remembered what happened earlier and focused his attention back on the girl. "Yellow, what happened earlier? Why did you fall?"

"I have a limit when it comes to using my powers. I was already exhausted after I used them to find you in the lake, and that dive nearly drained me of whatever amount of strength that was left in my body." she explained.

"In other words; you collapsed from exhaustion." Logan finished, to which she soon nodded. "I'd be tired too if I did something like that."

"But that's still awesome that you saved someone, Yellow! I know you did it a couple times before, but it's still pretty amazing!" Red spoke out, his grin making her heart pound against her ribcage.

Yellow said nothing. Instead, she was trying her best to keep her eyes open, which were already starting to close as a result of her loss of energy. Red saw this and spoke, "Maybe you should rest for a while. You have been busy for a bit."

"N… No. I'm okay. Really." she grumbled, trying to keep her eyes from closing. Red knew that she was lying. She was already starting to fall asleep in his arms.

He lifted her head gently and waited until he could see her amber coloured eyes. "Can you still stand?" he asked, though he knew that was probably a stupid thing to say.

"I-I think so." She placed one hand on Red's shoulder and slowly began to lift herself up. Her legs were shaking all along as she tried to stand upright. Red kept her balanced by keeping his hand on her back while the other was around her small waist, in case if she were to fall.

She managed to get herself up to her feet as Red slowly stood up to keep her still. Her legs started to wobble as she found it more and more difficult to keep herself upright. Just as she thought that she finally stood up, she fell once again. Red reacted quickly and caught her before she fell, her head resting against the crook of his neck. Red let out a small chuckle before he spoke, "I guess that means you're still tired." He heard nothing, but felt the small girl's head move slightly on his shoulder. "I'll carry you back to the tent. How's that sound?"

"Ok… ay." she silently replied. She heard the lulling sounds of sleep speaking against her eyes as she felt her eyes growing heavy.

Red proceeded to lift his friend up and placing one arm across her back and the other one underneath both her legs, holding her up bridal style. Just as he was about to stand up with the precious cargo in his arms, he noticed Yellow's hat lying beside them. Smiling, he gently lowered Yellow unto the ground and used the hand that he used to lift her legs to grab her hat. He then placed it on top of her chest, to which she gingerly grabbed the edges and held it up to her face. Her eyes were half visible as she stared back at Red, her breathing rapid as she saw his smile. God, how much she loved that smile. It always made her heart jump.

"We should probably head back to the tent. It's already getting late." He got up to his knees as he looked back at the shadowy boy. "If you want, you can come join us, Logan. No sense in sleeping out here, right?"

There was no response. Red turned around to see what was wrong and saw that Logan wasn't looking at either of them. His gaze was fixated on the trees that were on the left side of the lake. Yellow noticed the silence too and stared at Logan. This actually bothered her somewhat. Earlier, he spoke freely to her as if he was talking to an old friend. Now, he just stood there, silent as the forest itself, staring off with a cautious look on his face.

"What's wrong, Logan?" she asked.

Again, he didn't answer. She wasn't sure what was wrong with him. He wasn't this quiet since she met him. Why was he now? She looked closer at his eyes, which proved to be difficult since there were still some traces of sleep left in her. The way his eyes were… they no longer held that calm look to them. They now carried a fierce glare, like they were burning with rage. Why? What was he angry about? She was about to ask again before he held up his hand to silence her. His gaze never left the spot he was looking at as he did this.

"Stay here." he said sharply. His voice carried so much authority; it was actually scary now that Yellow thought about it. Just what was it that got him so rallied up?

Regardless, she and Red stayed where they were, their eyes trained onto Logan. He got up from where he was and slowly walked towards the trees. As he did, the thoughts continued to go through Yellow's mind. What was it _exactly_ that was making Logan act like this? Was there someone nearby who was going to attack them? Was it a wild Pokémon that was causing all this trouble? And even so, would Logan actually attack it? Would he harm an innocent Pokémon all for her and Red's safety? Even though that was a stupid thing to ask herself, the way Logan carried that fierce look was enough to prove her wrong.

He stopped in his tracks until he was at least a dozen feet away from where he once was. He stood perfectly still, unmoving like a statue and his head held high. His eyes were closed, as if he was trying to determine where exactly in the trees was the human or Pokémon that was bothering him. Closing her own eyes, Yellow concentrated and tried to listen to the sounds of the forest, the wind, the cries of Pokémon, anything that would help prevent Logan from attacking whatever defenceless Pokémon was approaching them.

To her surprise, there was nothing. Not a single cry from any Pokémon, nor the sound of the wind blowing past her or through the leaves of the trees. She couldn't even hear the graceful sounds of the lake crashing into shore. All she heard was her breathing and her heart beating against her chest. She was starting to panic. When has the Viridian Forest ever become so quiet? Even in the middle of the night, she always heard the forest speaking to her and the distant sounds of the wild Pokémon.

She took another deep breath. As she did, she saw her breath forming in front of her. Confused, she breathed in once more and let it out. Sure enough, it did the same thing like the first one did. Red saw this too and drew out his own breath. Just like Yellow's, he could clearly see his own breath. They got their answer as they felt the air around them drop to icy cold temperatures. The frozen air stung against their faces. Yellow felt her fear getting worse. _Why is it so cold?_ She thought to herself. Winter isn't for about another few more months from now. What was going on?

Before she could even ask, she heard something. It was faint, and seemed to echo. It sounded like it was right beside her, but at the same time so far away. She listened carefully to the sound as it began to become clearer.

_-…ill… Co…sssum… Da…nesss… Ha…d…-_

By now Red could hear the sounds too, along with their Pokémon. They began moving towards their trainers quickly as the sounds drew closer, and started making sense.

_-Hea…rtsss… Consssu…me…-_

_-Ki…ill…-_

_-Dar…nessssss…-_

Yellow could easily tell that she did not like what those voices were saying. She shook her head, breaking free from her concentration in the process. Surprisingly, the voices did not go away. They were much closer now, and Yellow could clearly hear the words that they spoke out. It made her heart cringe as she distinctively listened to each and every word that was uttered.

_-Heartsss… Consssume…-_

_-Kill…-_

_-Darknessssss… Hatred…-_

_-Kill… Humansss… Mussst…-_

The voices drew closer and closer, filling Yellow's heart with fear. What is happening? What is it that was speaking all these things? It couldn't be Team Rocket. They defeated them a long time ago. She felt Red pull her closer to him, obviously hearing the voices as well. She expected herself to feel safe in his arms, like she always did before. But now it was different. Now, she was scared and hiding herself in the closest thing nearby, which in this case, is Red. The chorus of twisted voices continued to speak, filling Yellow's mind with their words until they were the only thing that she could think of. She placed both her hands on her ears, hoping that that would prevent herself from hearing the voices.

It did nothing. She could still hear the voices as clear as day. She soon realized with horror that she wasn't hearing them through her ears, but in her mind. The voices were speaking in her mind. And she could clearly hear the malice and dread in the voices.

_-Heartsss… Consssume… Fresssh…-_

_-Kill… Humansss… Mussst…-_

_-Darknessssss… Hatred… Power…-_

_-Kill… Humansss… Mussst…-_

Just when she thought she was about to shout out to the voices to stop talking, Logan's own voice pierced through into her mind, driving away all of the evil voices that were plaguing her thoughts. "Call back your Pokémon into their Pokéballs. Right now." The way he said it didn't sound like a statement or a question. It was more like an order.

Not wanting to argue, Red and Yellow unstrapped a few Pokéballs and called back their Pokémon. When they were finished, they looked back at Logan.

The voices were far away now. It was like they were scared of something. Something powerful. She could barely hear the twisted words now and instead heard nothing but the silence of the forest

She should be feeling safe while in Red's arms. She should be happy that the voices were gone. So why was she still afraid?

In the midst of her fear, Yellow darted her head to every spot of the clearing, checking for anything that was out of the ordinary. Red followed suite and looked behind them, above, anywhere that would most likely hide an enemy waiting to ambush. He looked back at Logan, his back still turned on them, frozen in place as he slowly looked around, surveying the area.

Then, just as they thought things were beginning to return to normal, they heard it. A terrifying scream that sent chills running down their spines, threatening to shatter their minds. The sound it made was unbearable, and would forever haunt their souls.

_-KIIILLLLLLLL!-_

Red was the first to see it. On the other side of the clearing, just a few meters away from him and Yellow, a mass of dark aura began to form. It grew and grew until it was more than a feet taller than him if he was standing at full height. The mass soon opened up like a tear, and stepping out of the darkness, howling in the night in blood-lusted fury… was a monstrous creature.

Its skin was as black as Logan's, but it had a much darker tone to it. Its eyes were shaded crimson, like the colour of blood. It barred its wicked sharp teeth inside of its mouth, saliva oozing out of it. Its rear legs were bent and crooked, implying that it was capable of performing long jumps. All four of its paws possessed three long, silver claws. Its ivy blue mane covered its entire neck as it flared up in response to another one of the creature's roars, revealing its large, red, toothy maw. As it roared, Red could faintly see a glowing red symbol that covered its chest. He wasn't sure what it was or what it meant, but he knew that it wasn't good. Its tail flicked behind it as it completely ignored the two trainers that were near it and sped straight towards Logan.

He knew right away that it wasn't a Pokémon. The way it looked, the way its eyes gleamed for the sight of blood, the way it spoke to them; it was anything but a Pokémon. It was an actual, raging monster.

Red knew what was about to happen as the creature ran towards Logan, claws open and ready to sink into its prey. "WATCH OUT!" he called out.

He was already beaten to the punch, as Logan had turned around and faced the creature the moment it was upon him. His arms flew forward just as the creature pounced and caught it by the jaw. His robotic hand held onto the creatures upper jaw, his fingers slightly inside its mouth, while his other hand held the lower jaw. The creature struggled for a few moments to break free from the boy's grasp before he twisted his hands.

A loud, sickening sound rang out, forcing Yellow to keep herself from puking. The creature's head was twisted to the side, its neck horribly disfigured, before it slumped to the ground. There was reason to see if it was still alive. It was clearly dead. I lasted for about eight seconds since it first appeared.

Logan stayed where he was, glaring daggers at the creature as something began to happen to it. The body of the creature shifted before it proceeded to dissolve away. They all watched as its body broke down into shadowy mists before there was nothing left of its existence. He flexed his fingers on his hands, hearing the knuckles cracking and the gears shifting as he balled them into fists before they slackened.

They didn't have enough time to speak their thoughts as another terrifying roar, this one louder than the last one, came out of nowhere. Another roar responded to it, somewhere farther away from the first, followed up by another. Soon, a chorus of twisted roars began to call out, echoing within and all around the Viridian Forest. Yellow turned her head to see where the sounds were coming from, but saw nothing. Nothing but trees and bushes. They could be anywhere.

"They're coming." Logan said, his voice cold and distant at the same time.

Yellow's eyes widen in shock. _Whose _coming?

She didn't need to wait for an answer. All around them, along the sides of the clearing, dozens of crimson coloured eyes flared up in the shadows of the forest, all glaring at the people in front of them. Yellow did her best to not scream as the owners of those eyes stepped out of the darkness of the forest and into the light in the clearing.

More shadows. Dozens of them. All of their eyes screaming and lusting for blood.

Some of the ones that she saw were identical to the one that Logan killed, their blue manes flaring up as they roared. The ones she didn't recognize, though, were enough to make her wish that she never saw them. Like the shadowy beasts, these ones had jet-black skin and red eyes, but unlike the beasts, these were more humanoid. Their skeletal frames possessed multiple spikes along their spines and back. Their long arms ended with five digit claws and their legs were like pillars, long and circular, and flat at the very bottom. Their serrated jaws opened up and revealed to the young trainers their red maws. The same glowing symbol that was on the beasts were on them as well, in-between their ribcages. One of them opened up its mouth and let loose a hollow scream, one that surely could have resembled a dying person.

Yellow looked away as she covered her ears with both of her hands, preventing herself from hearing anymore of that horrible screeching. She felt Red pull her closer to him protectively as the shadows twisted words began to ring in their minds once more, their malice demanding for fear.

_-Heartsss… Consssume… Fresssh…-_

_-Kill… Humansss… Mussst…-_

_-Darknessssss… Hatred… Power…-_

_-Kill… Humansss… Mussst…-_

_-Dessstroy…-_

Through the roars and telepathic messages, Red looked at Logan as the shadowy creatures began to circle around him, his eyes demanding for an answer. "What are these things?" he shouted.

Logan didn't look back when Red called out. The shadows began to move closer to him, their eyes glowing with hatred. Yet he heard Red's question regardless, and answered with one, single word. A word that was enough to send shivers crawling along Red's spine.

"Endless."


	5. The Endless

**(A/N [July 18, 2013]: Like the last few chapters, this one was edited quite a bit. It's now shorter, and the descriptions at some parts should be shortened enough so it won't drag on. The one that's been edited the most, though, is the next chapter. But I will not go into explanations on it now. Enjoy reading the newly updated Chapter 4 of Orange Blossoms.)**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 4: The Endless<strong>

Logan stayed in place as the creatures, now known as Endless, began to circle him. They had already managed to close all possible escape routes, preventing him from getting away should he ever choose that option. Unfortunately for them, though, he wasn't one to simply run away. He shifted his head side to side slightly, hearing the sounds of bone cracking, before setting himself in a fighting stance. One hand was facing forward, while the other was close to his face, but still remained open like the first.

His eyes shifted back to the two trainers who were close to the tent, seeing the fear that was on their faces. There were no Endless around them, which he was thankful for. The less they were focused on them, the better. He then focused his attention back on the creatures.

He immediately recognized the Endless in front of him. The ones that look like animals were Prowlers, while the humanoid ones were Grims. Both of them are one of the most common types of Endless. And from his past experiences in fighting them, the weakest. A small smile formed on his face. This would be an easy fight.

One of the Prowlers growled menacingly as it flicked its tongue around, the drool dripping to the ground as it stared hungrily at Logan. It shook its head and let loose a demonic roar before charging. It opened its maw, ready to sink its teeth into his flesh. The boy, however, reacted much faster than it anticipated as he struck the Prowler on the side of its face with the back of his foot. The force of the kick launched the Endless across the field and crashing into another Prowler.

The rest of the Endless watched this and all roared in unison before they attacked. Logan quickly jumped out of the way as a Grim struck the spot where he once was. It let out a hollow scream before it pulled its arm back and attacked again. Logan countered and grabbed the Endless by the head, then drove it straight to the ground. The impact was so powerful that it caused a small crater to form. There was no need to keep fighting it. The impact had killed the creature instantly. Another Grim came up from behind and succeeded in grappling him. But he escaped from it by striking the Endless in the abdomen with his elbow, then grabbed its arm. He swung it around a few times, picking up speed with each turn, before flinging it at a couple more Endless. He watched as the Grim collided with its partners, their bodies sprawled across the ground.

Several more Prowlers quickly rushed in and lunged at him. He placed one hand onto the ground, pushing himself up into a handstand, and with a flick of his wrist spun around. One by one, he hit the Endless with a powerful kick as he continued to spin, sending them flying in different directions, either crashing into more Endless or onto the ground.

He stood back up on his feet as some of the Endless drew close and took the offensive. He ran towards the closest Endless and punched it square in the face. As it flew by, another Prowler charged and attempted to bite him. He easily avoided it and grabbed it by the neck. It struggled to break free from his vice-grip for about a few seconds before a surge of fire shot forth from Logan's hand, setting it on fire. The creature howled in pain as its whole body turned to cinder and decomposed, becoming nothing more than ashes.

As more Endless came, a light began to form in his hand. One Grim took the opportunity to come close and attempted to impale him.

…Only for the exact same thing to happen to it. It looked down and saw a long, silver blade piercing through its chest and out through its back, black blood already seeping out of the wounds. It breathed weakly and lifted its head, casting an evil glare at the owner of the sword before he flicked his wrist. The sword cleaved across its flesh, making it scream even more, and within moments its whole upper body and cut free from the rest of its body. Both halves fell to the ground before they faded, and the blood that stained the silver steel was flicked free in a single motion.

Logan glared at the Endless as they watched one of their own fall by the blade. Gripping the sword tightly in his hand, he charged at the horde.

* * *

><p>Yellow watched as Logan soared across the field and sliced two of the humanoid shadows in half, watching their bodies fly off before they too faded like the rest. She couldn't tell what was worse; the monsters that were coming out of nowhere, or Logan killing said monsters with relative ease. And the way his eyes flashed every so often when he cut them apart; they were filled with so much anger, it rivalled that of a Gyrados. What did these things do that made him act this way?<p>

She jumped as soon as she heard a hollow scream coming from behind her. She turned and saw one of the skeletal creatures staring back at them with hollowed eyes. It soon screamed and ran towards them with one of its clawed hands stretched back.

Just as it was about to swing the hand down on the two humans before it, a hand reached out and grabbed it by the wrist. Stunned, the Endless tried using its other hand to attack, only for the same thing to happen. It stared down at whoever it was that was holding it back and saw Red, with Yellow hiding behind him. It screamed at his face and pushed down, making Red cringe slightly before he pushed back. Soon the two were locked in a grappling match.

"Get… away from her!" Red shouted through gritted teeth.

The Endless proved to be stronger, as it managed to push Red down until he was now on his knees. Sensing its victory, the Grim opened its mouth, revealing its ghastly maw. Within it, Red could see a small light forming, and knew right away what it was about to do.

A thunderbolt appeared from out of nowhere and struck the Endless on its side. Red let go before the electricity connected and watched as the Endless howled in pain. The electricity continued to surge around its body as it let loose another hollow cry, this one fainter than the last. The second the electricity stopped, the Grim fell backwards, its eyes now blacked out as it, too, faded away.

Curious as to where the thunderbolt came from, he turned around and saw Chuchu standing beside him and Yellow, a smile spread across the Pikachu's face. Yellow returned the smile and placed her hand on top of Chuchu's head when she came close enough to them. "Thanks, Chuchu!"

Red was confused. When did Yellow release her? He didn't even hear a Pokéball opening.

Sensing his confusion, Yellow looked back at him and held the Pokéball that once contained Chuchu in it. "I threw it the moment that… thing pushed you down. I wanted to help… so I called Chuchu out." The Pikachu nodded her head in agreement. Yellow gave him a shy smile before continuing, "Thank you… for saving me."

Red let out a chuckle before he began to ruffle his friend's hair. "Silly. I should be the one thanking you."

Yellow couldn't help but join in on the laughter.

Their happy moment, however, was cut short, as they heard yet another familiar scream. They quickly turned their heads around and saw one of the Prowlers glaring at them. Its tongue was flicking around as it moved its head from Yellow to Red and then back. The Endless that stood beside it took notice and did the same thing. Soon half of the surviving Endless were staring at them, all of their eyes clouded with hunger.

Before either trainer could do anything, one of the Grims charged at them, reaching about lunging distance before a noise rang out. It was loud, and the sharpness of it made Yellow's ears cringe. Before they knew it, a bullet pierced through the Grims skull, killing it completely.

The rest of the Endless turned their heads to where the bullet came from, along with Red and Yellow, and both sides were surprised to see who it was that fired.

Logan stood away from them, his sword drenched in blood in one hand while the other held a silver coloured Desert Eagle. Smoke was emitting from the barrel of the gun as it was soon aimed at the head of another Endless. "Why bother killing them," He growled, his voice laced with a menacing tone. "when the one worth killing is standing right here?"

All of the Endless ignored the two humans in front of them and charged at Logan. Their eyes glowed with malice as they raised their claws up, ready to tear him apart.

A sly smirk appeared on Logan's face as he pulled the trigger. As soon as he did, a wall of bullets shot forth and headed straight for the horde. The Endless screamed out as the bullets whizzed past them, scarring their black skins or punching right through them. Black blood flew off in every direction. Some Endless were shot so many times that their arms and legs were torn right out of their sockets. Yellow had to look away to prevent herself from vomiting as she witnessed a Grim's arm fly out and whirl across the clearing before landing further away from them. Her hands were now up against her ears as she heard the horrific, dying screams of the Endless filling the silence of the night.

As soon as the screaming started, it stopped. Silence immediately began to replace it before the distant calls of Pokémon came soon after. The air had grown warmer as well, though it was still cold. Thankfully, it wasn't as cold when the Endless arrived.

She removed her hands and looked up to see Red still holding her, obviously having done so when the Endless had focused their attention on them before Logan intervened. While grateful that he was safe, she couldn't help but feel caution as she remembered the mysterious boy and turned to face him.

The moment she did, she immediately pushed back the urge to hurl.

Between her, Red and Logan laid the bodies of the Endless. Their bloodlust eyes had been blacked out, and their bodies were riddled with scars and bullet wounds. Some of the bodies were so torn apart that it was hard to distinguish which was which. The once emerald coloured grass was stained with their blood, and their air was filled with its thick and sickening scent.

The bodies laid there for a moment before a light began to shine, enveloping all of them before they all faded away. The same thing was happening to the blood, removing all traces of it from the grass. When it was over, there was nothing left. No bodies, no blood. It was as though the Endless never really attacked

Her eyes focused on Logan, seeing both weapons disappear in a flash of light before he sat on the grass. His legs were crossed while his arms rested on top of them. The fury that she saw in his eyes vanished, replaced with a look that seemed empty and devoid of all emotion.

She felt arms letting go of her and soon saw Red approaching Logan. The way he walked implied that he was in need of answers. He stopped as soon as he was in front of him and shouted, "Okay. I want answers. Right now."

It seemed like Logan was prepared for the bluntness in Red's voice, as he soon replied without looking up at him, "I'll answer whatever you want to ask. Just not right now. I need to catch my breath. Damn things are relentless."

Red could feel his blood boil and shouted again, "No. I want answers now!" From where she was, Yellow could hear his shouting as though he was right beside her and was easily shocked. It was rare for him to get this angry at anyone. "For starters, what were those things just now? You said that they were 'Endless', but what is an Endless? And where did they come from?" He then pointed at Logan and continued, "And what about you? You're definitely not a human, and you said you're not a Pokémon, but nobody can possess that much strength and make weapons appear out of thin air unless they were! So I'm asking you again; who are you?!"

For a brief moment, the boy said nothing to counteract Red's shouting. Then, almost suddenly, his head reared up and flashed a look that sent shivers crawling down the trainer's spine. His face carried no aggression. If anything he looked positively annoyed. But his eyes… his eyes carried such a terrifying look that made him look like he was about ready to kill him in a heartbeat. Maybe even faster than that.

_What have we gotten ourselves into?_ Red thought as he returned the glare with one of his own.


	6. The Warrior's Past

**(A/N [July 23, 2013]: How many times have I edited this damn chapter now? I think maybe three or four. Either way, I came back and changed _everything_ that was on the chapter. No flashbacks, no lame ass 'dance party gone wrong' plot, nothing. I added in something new that caused Logan and his friends to leave their world which, to me, makes a bit more sense, but at the same times leaves out a bit of mystery, and made Logan's description of what happened short and straight to the point.**

**In all honesty, I still hate this chapter. No matter how many times I edit it, or what I add in, it's still awful. But, at least it's shorter and not boring anymore. I'm sure half of you got bored out of your skulls reading those damn flashbacks. I was.)**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 5: The Warrior's Past<strong>

Red couldn't possibly be sure what situation unnerved him the most; him and Yellow surviving an encounter with a bunch of horrific monsters from a child's nightmare, or being in the middle of a stare down with the one who killed said monsters. As he put more thought into it, it was the latter that stood out the most.

The two had been glaring at each other for about fifteen seconds, with neither one of them willing to back down and admit defeat. He honestly felt like five minutes have passed. He could still feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins as a result of being in the middle of a deadlock with that crazy skeleton Endless. And Logan's intense glare was not helping one bit.

They were both so focused on their glaring contest that they failed to acknowledge Yellow's presence as she slowly wobbled towards them on tired legs. She stood close to Red and placed her hand on his arm, the warm touch from it enough to look away from Logan and back at her. The fatigue was already starting to take effect on her, but now he noticed that her breathing was heavy and her skin was paler than usual. Her body was also shaking, more than likely a result from seeing those things. She looked terrible, like she woke up from a nightmare.

He looked back at Logan and motioned at the small girl, as though he was reminding him of what was about to happen to her. At first it didn't seem to do anything, but in after a while he heard the boy sighing in defeat. He shook his head and muttered something beneath his breath, raising his hand to massage his temple.

An irritated growl escaped his mouth as he spoke, "Fine. I'll tell you what you need to know. But I'm only telling you a part of it, and that's it. Clear?"

Red frowned, but decided not to say anything. At least they were getting somewhere.

The two trainers proceeded back to the camp to grab a few things, as they had a feeling this would be take a while. Yellow held onto Red's hand tightly as he carefully guided her towards their bags, mindful to not let her fall. She called back her Pikachu and placed its Pokéball with the others, then placed her hat beside her sketchbook before pulling out a bed sheet from her bag. She wrapped it around herself and joined up with Red as he grabbed a few water bottles and the bag of sandwiches.

They both turned around to see Logan had got up and was now standing in front of a large oak tree. He pulled one hand back and punched the trunk. The entire tree shook violently as dozens of small branches broke off and fell onto the ground with a clatter of thuds. He scooped up each and every branch before making his way back. He dropped them beside him and began to dig a hole, then threw the sticks in.

When that was done, he casually flicked his fingers, creating a small spark on the palm of his hand that shortly grew into a fireball. He tossed it into the pile of wood and watched as the fire quickly consumed it all and erupted. It towered over him before it began to settle down and shrank to a smaller size.

After checking to make sure the fire won't spread, he sat down. His left leg was crossed, but the other was curled in, allowing him to rest his fake arm on his right knee easily. Following his movement, Red sat down on the opposite side of the fire with his legs crossed. Yellow sat beside him and rested her head against his shoulder, her knees on top of each other. Red wrapped his arm around her to keep her warm in case the bed sheet wasn't enough. Looking back at Logan, he saw that he still held the frightening glare before it changed to something else, something that he couldn't decipher.

It wasn't long though until Logan finally began to spoke. "I'll just skip the questions and go straight to the point." His voice sounded heavy with every word he said, and even more so as he began, "I was living a normal life like any other person, not caring what the future had in store and simply focusing on the present. I had friends, a family, went to a high school like everyone else. For the most part things were dull, but it was the kind of dull that reminded you that things were safe and quiet. That all changed three months ago."

"We were outside of the school, hanging out as always, when I noticed something was wrong. Clouds started to roll up and blackened the sky completely, and the wind started to pick up speed. Huge flocks of birds flew overhead, all of them heading for different directions. By then my friends noticed the sudden changes. We weren't sure what was going on, but at the same time we didn't want to stay out and find out what would happen next."

"Just as we were about to leave, this terrible, screeching noise rang inside our heads, like the screams of the damned. It was so painful, I thought that my ears were about to bleed. And then, we saw it."

He stopped for a moment to take a quick breath before he continued on. As he did, Red couldn't help but notice the slight change in Logan's tone, "Beyond the horizon, the clouds started to drift away, making a hole in the sky bigger than the neighbourhood. Before we knew it, something… started to fall from the hole. It was too far away for us to tell what it was exactly, honestly, but it looked like some kind of ship. We saw it fall from the sky before it crashed into the earth, with pieces of it flying out and landing somewhere else, either as the ship was falling fell or when it crashed. We could feel the explosion just from where he were, and it was damn far away from us. An explosion illuminated the surface, followed by columns of smoke, and then, there was a light."

"I don't know how long I was out, but it felt like a while. I was the first to wake up, and when I did, the first thing I noticed was that it was raining. Heavily. From the distance I could hear thunder, and when I looked up I saw lightning performing its dreadful dance across the sky."

"When I remembered what happened, my first thought was to check and see if my friends were okay. Amanda was the first I checked, but just as I reached her, I saw that she was no longer… 'herself'… And neither was I." He glanced at the trainers and noticed the confused looks they were giving him. He proceeded to explain to them, "We were… turned… into something else. I… I don't know how to properly explain it, but the point is we weren't human anymore."

"I got over the shock quickly and tried to wake her up, but she wouldn't. I checked her breathing right away and was relieved that she still was, but it was faint. I had to get her somewhere safe, so I carried her on my back. Brennan and Brady were the next ones to wake up, and they immediately noticed us. Didn't take them long for them to realize it was us, but they looked doubtful. Can't blame them. They asked me what was going on. I was just as lost as they were, and God I wish I knew what was happening to us. But before I could say anything to them, we heard _them_."

"They appeared just like the place they were created from, marching towards us with a sense of pride as they looked at us like helpless prey. There were probably dozens of them, maybe hundreds. We ran as soon as we saw them coming, trying to cover as much distance as we can between us and them. We didn't dare to look back after that."

"Just as they were catching up to us, this smaller ship came out of nowhere and gunned them down. It stood between us, keeping them at bay while we were protected for the moment. The door opened, and there was a machine waiting for us. It told us to get in. We didn't oblige. Brennan went in first and helped bring Amanda in, then Brady came in after. I was the only one left outside, but by then the Endless had already gotten around. I told them to take off while I catch up. The pilot flew the ship low enough for me to get on, and I jumped in just as one of them lunged at me. I was hanging off the side, and I could feel arms pulling me in. I thought for a moment that I was safe, clear away from those things."

"I was wrong." he stated quietly and continued, "I felt blades digging into my leg, trying to pull me down back to the earth. I looked down and saw that one of the Grims had somehow caught me. I tried to kick it off, but its claws were too deep. I didn't care. I was just trying to get the bastard off of me. But right as I was about to punch its hand to force it to let go, a gun appeared in my hand and a second later, the Grim had a bullet in its head." He moved a finger up to his head and tapped the area between the eyes, indicating where he shot the Grim. "I watched it fall before I was pulled in and the door closed behind me. I took one last look out the window as soon as I noticed the stars… and I saw my world – _our_ world – being engulfed in storms and shadows. Our home was gone, our parents, our friends; everything was taken away from us that day. And we knew that we could never get it back."

Red saw that Logan's hands were beginning to fumble. A nervous sign, perhaps? He sounded very distant and quiet near the end of his story. Maybe what happened to him and his friends was a bigger blow than he imagined. He watched as the boy stopped moving his hands and added, "I met up with the commander of the ship that saved us. A Guardian robot called Alpha. He told me that all the answers I seeked were in these ancient ruins on a planet called Corvana. I was hesitant at first, but I agreed so long as my friends were left out of this. He agreed."

"To put it simply, I found out on the planet that I am member of an endangered race of beings called Vanguards, who were hunted down to near-extinction during a war 5,000-years-ago, encountered more Endless and a group of cyber-barbarians called Wargarians and their leader Volgarox. Then I lost my arm and got impaled in the chest, went into a state of rage and killed everything in the ruins, brought back to the ship where I had to get immediate medical attention. After that ordeal, I met up with another Vanguard named Saria, who told me that I was the new Warrior, this legendary Vanguard tasked with preserving the balance between light and darkness, and that she is my Guide. My mentor. I was too frustrated with what was going on and came close to killing her before she told me that she could help me know more about who and what I was. Again, I was hesitant, but eventually I agreed to let her help me."

"Since then, I've been travelling across different worlds and universes like this one, fighting against Endless and Wargarians while trying to stop some ancient evil from being reawakened and bringing forth another war that will threaten all of life and destroy everything that's been created."

The two trainers became silent the moment Logan finished his story. The expressions that they gave out to him made it clear that they were having difficulty believing him. He couldn't blame them. It all sounded like a bad plot from a sci-fi movie, or something out of a child's wild imagination.

But even so, their curiosity got the better of them, and Red was the first to speak up, "How long ago did you say this happened?" he asked.

Logan's body stiffened before he slowly recomposed himself, "A few months at least. Two, maybe three. I've lost track of how long this has been going on since this all started."

"And you've been fighting these things since then?"

"More than you can imagine." he stated, "I can even recall some of the fights I've had with them in perfect detail."

Yellow shook her head as she tried to find her voice, "I can't believe that that actually happened. It sounds so… unreal."

"I don't expect either of you to believe me," he said bluntly, "But I expect you to understand the reason why I'm here. If I'm here, then that means the Endless are here as well, and that is terrible news."

"But what is an Endless?" she asked as she struggled to keep her voice down. It was obvious that she was worried about this, "And what do they want with us?"

He was silent for a while, making the trainers wonder if perhaps he was avoiding the topic. They were surprised when he started speaking again, "The Endless are… an enigma, as Saria puts it. They're a race of beings born from darkness and exist in a realm that's completely devoid of light. There are a few methods in which they're formed, but they all end up the same way."

"Such as?" Red interrupted.

"Well, an Endless is normally formed when a living being is killed, whether it's done by murder, disasters, or natural causes. When a person dies, their soul leaves the world to places like Heaven or Hell, while their body remains on the earth. But two other parts of them are released and sent to different realms. These two are the light and darkness that exist within that person. They take on the form that represents what or who the person was at heart and live in the two realms as separate beings. The Endless, for example, are beings that were once people whose darkness have manifested into living creatures. This process has apparently been going on since the beginning of time, and the balance has been maintained since then. But when the Great War happened, the Endless adopted a new method of adding more to their numbers."

Red didn't like the way that sounded, but asked anyway, "What kind of method?"

The Vanguard's eyes flashed morbidly before answering, "The 'kill anything that's alive and convert them into Endless' kind of method. Some people believe that they use the darkness to spread it inside their victims, quickening their death and causing them to become Endless themselves. Others think that it might be done through other means." He shook his head as his voice began to lower, "All you need to know is that they remove the light within the person that their converting and make them into Endless. Without light, then it can't move on to the realm of light, and therefore causes the Balance to go in disarray."

"Why are they called Endless, though? Seems like a strange name for them, to be honest."  
>"It's because of what they feel. From what Saria told me, an Endless feels nothing but pain, hatred and sorrow. Sorrow because it's lost everything that it once had in its old life, hatred towards those who still live and have the things that they've lost. Because they experience this eternal suffering, their driven to kill everyone by means of anger or vengeance, wanting to make them feel the pain that they feel. Hence, the name."<p>

"You mentioned that name again; Saria." Yellow began, "Is she a friend of yours?"

The boy chuckled softly as he shook his head. It was the closest thing he expressed other than anger or annoyance. "You might say that. She and I haven't known each other that long, and our first meeting wasn't exactly one for the books, but we've started to become close friends in the past month."

A smile appeared on the Viridian Girl's face, "You seem to care a lot about your friends."

"We ended up becoming close since losing our home. Of course I care about them. Their like a family to me. And I would gladly accept death if it means keeping them safe." His voice grew strained and brought a tinge of guilt in Yellow, "We've lost everything when the Endless attacked. All the people we cared about, all the things that we enjoyed, the places we loved to go to; all of that was taken away from us. They mourned as soon as we settled in, most of them for a few hours, others for the whole day. Amanda was the worst, though. She cried non-stop for more than three days with little rest and barely any food and water. Losing everything and everyone she once cared for drove her unstable. She had to be locked in a special chamber to keep herself from harming others with her powers."

"I agreed with Alpha to stop the Endless on my own because I didn't want my friends to put their lives on the line. They've already lost too much, and I don't want to lose another friend." He looked away from the fire and to the side, completely forgetting the two trainers. "I almost did."

The words didn't leave Yellow's attention, and she found herself dreading the moment she asked, "Who?"

"David." he answered, "One of my closest friends. He was among the others who were still unconscious when we boarded the shuttle. I thought for sure that he was a goner, but then we met up with him on another world. But he…" His voice became more distant to the point where it was too quiet to even hear him.

Yellow's eyes were now a little wider as she shook herself awake, moving her head from Red's shoulder and leaning forward, "Logan… What happened to him?"

She saw for a split moment his left eye shifting to a dark crimson before settling back to yellow, and his steel hand balling up into a fist. "The Wargarians happened," he seethed, "They… converted him. Replaced his flesh and blood and organs with circuits and gears. They removed all traces of his humanity save for his memories and made him into a machine. They knew he was my friend, so they planned to use him to fight me. Their twisted method of psychological warfare. It almost worked, until David escaped. We met after what happened on Corvana. He hasn't been the same since this all started. He's colder, more distant, more ruthless. We had to pull him away a few times to stop him from killing innocent people."

The area grew silent as neither trainer could find their voice to say anything. Feelings of shock had replaced their curiosity over Logan's past, and they were now beginning to regret it.

Now they were beginning to understand why he didn't feel like telling them. Even Yellow was having a hard time believing it. A normal teenager and his friends forced to flee from their world by monsters born from shadows, and then hurled into a war that threatens the very fabrics of time and space. It was like the universe was playing a sick, twisted joke on him.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable with the silence, Logan immediately broke it as he spoke up. Loudly. "I think I've said enough for now. It's getting late, and I think it's time for someone to get some well deserved rest after everything that's happened."

Red knew who he was talking about. He looked down at Yellow and saw that her eyes were struggling to keep themselves open as her breathing began to slow. She let loose a long yawn as she snuggled against Red, making him blush slightly. "Yeah… I guess you're right."

He gently picked Yellow up and made his way to where the tent was. Logan followed them closely as he stopped near the entrance. He watched Red place Yellow on the makeshift bed that was inside and look back at him.

"Aren't you going to come in?" he asked, "There's still plenty of room in here. No sense in sleeping outside in the cold."

"I'll be fine," Logan stated, "I don't need the sleep anyway."

"Won't you need the sleep, though? It seems like you need it just as much as Yellow does."

"Someone's got to stay up and be on the lookout for more Endless."

"Oh, well, take it easy then."

Logan chuckled lightly. "I could say the same about you. You two have a good sleep. I'll be by the lake if you need me." Red nodded his head before he stepped in and closed the zipper behind him.

The Vanguard, now alone, moved away from the tent and proceeded his way to the edge of the lake. He sat down with his legs crossed and peered into the water, seeing his reflection staring back at him. As he stared at his reflection, his mind wandered off to the eventsthat have transpired, some of which disturbed him greatly. _I should have told them the truth, but right now I can't trust them. Not yet._

_That group of Endless, though_…_ It was definitely a scouting party. Which means that there is a lot more somewhere, but where exactly is the question. They could be hiding in this forest, but it's too big to conduct a thorough search. Even if we did, they can easily hide from us anywhere and avoid detection completely. The only way to effectively draw them out is to wait. Give them a chance to begin what they're up to, then strike the hornet's nest._

He looked back at the tent and saw that the lantern was out, hinting that the two trainers were already asleep. The two were very close to one another in terms of their relationship, and, if Yellow listened to Logan, they might end up becoming the couple that they've always wanted. But that was a big 'if'. Yellow is, to a degree, still a child, so it may take a while for her to properly confess to him. Probably never, due to her getting nervous anytime she's around him. If that is to be the case, he may have to convince her a little more.

_It feels wrong knowing that I'm keeping the secret from them, but the less they know about me, the better. No one else needs to know about me, and I know for a fact that they won't beg me to tell them, so I can at least credit them for being sincere about that._ He looked back at the tent as he could feel his eyes beginning to tire. _The Warrior_…_ Why the hell did they chose me? That's something I still want to know._ He grumbled as a headache suddenly appeared, making him change subjects, _Best not to dwell on these kinds of thoughts. I'll have plenty of time to do so when we get back home._

He could feel the minutes passing by as the wind continued to brush against his skin, and the light of the moon reflecting his body. His eyes slowly began to close, the feeling of fatigue already washing over him, before they snapped wide open. No. He had to stay up. He had to keep watch for the Endless. Make sure no more were coming.

But… there was nothing wrong about taking a few minutes of rest. And what harm could there be in that?

He shook his head as he tried to push away these thoughts, but a voice in the back of his head told him that it was okay. That this was what he needed. Slowly, the calming lulls of sleep began to draw him, making more and more sense as he listened to them, and before he knew it, his eyes were closed.


	7. The Nightmare Begins

**(A/N [August 16, 2013]: I actually finished editing this chapter a few weeks ago, but I'm posting it now along with Chapter 7 since they were originally planned to be one chapter. Here I've made quite a few changes, especially the two encounters that Logan has with Nexus outside of his mind, and other stuff that I've felt weren't important. The same applies for the editing I did for Chapter 7, which by the time this is up, it will already be posted.)**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 6: The Nightmare Begins<strong>

_Logan's mind, Normal POV…_

The only sounds that Logan could hear all around him within the endless void that he was in were screams of pain and loud bursts of static. A sea of black and red water marked the ground, its substance stained by the wretched stench of decay and blood. Crosses and tombs of various shapes and sizes dotted the half sunken landscape, either intact, destroyed long ago, or twisted so much by the madness that they were barely recognizable. The air was thick and heavy, it made it difficult for him to breathe.

He knew right away that this was not a place of dreams. Such dreams would never create an environment as sickening and dreadful as this. This was more like a nightmare, and even then it wasn't a close enough description. It was something… much worse. One that Logan was all too familiar with. And it made his anger burn even more.

_Of all the times he's decided to make his appearance, he chooses today of all days. _He thought in deep annoyance before two swords appeared out of thin air and into his hands. "Just my luck," he muttered as he took a moment to scan his surroundings.

Another sound began to overlap the screaming and static. At first it was too quiet to make sense of what it was, but as it drew closer, he recognized the sound almost right away. It was the sound of laughter, the kind of laughter that made your blood freeze solid and told every single cell in your brain to run as far away as you could. Soon the distant laughter began to die down and began to speak to him. _-Come now, Logan. You should know by now that these meetings are more than just mere luck.- _It responded, not bothering to hide the malicious glee in its voice. _-Have you already forgotten the reason why I come see you in the first place?-_

Logan's eyes glanced over to his left, his voice raising over the maddening noises that were constantly emitting. "Go away, Nexus. I'm not in the mood to hear anymore of your lies."

The voice, now known as Nexus, cackled with malice. It was a truly sickening sound. _-Lies? How would you even know if what I speak is lies? Have you ever taken the time to think them over and consider that they could possibly be true? Your friends will fear you and abandon you when they learn of the truth. I am merely helping you understand the situation that you are getting yourself into a little more.-_

His anger rose to dangerous levels as he darted his head to the other side, catching a quick glimpse of a silhouette running in the darkness. "My friends would never abandon me! And they would certainly not stand by and watch me suffer by your hand!"

_-Are you sure of that? Humans will change their minds when they discover that they've been deceived the entire time by their closest friends, and will take satisfaction in watching them pay for their actions. Vanguards and Psions will do the same. You are no exception. Once the others find out about your secret, then they'll have second thoughts about you being their leader. Thoughts that will make them believe that you are useless to them.-_

"Enough!" The Vanguard shouted at the top of his lungs. His knuckles were clenching so tight around the hilt of the swords that they began to crack. "I'm getting tired of listening to your bullshit! Get out of my head, now!"

_-I'm afraid that's out of the question.-_

The moment the voice said those words, everything grew silent. There was no screaming, no chopped up or distorted static that flickered every so often. He heard nothing but the sound of his own breathing. Small beads of sweat began to trickle down his forehead as he looked all around him now, looking for any signs of the mysterious being. He could faintly hear water splashing around him, hinting that he was on the move. But it was coming from everywhere, he didn't know where they could appear.

_I've got to keep my guard up. I can't let him get the advantage on me again. Have to remain focus. Have to remain strong._

Though it was easier to say it in his head, in reality he was struggling. He had done this many times before, but there was simply no way that he could possibly win this fight. Not after all the other times he's failed.

His ears immediately picked up on something that had changed. The water being splashed about was drawing closer, and if he was correct, then _He _was just behind him. There was another sound that followed the first; a whirring sound that sounded close to a chainsaw starting to rev up.

Chainsaw…

Logan's eyes widened as soon as he came across the realization and looked behind him, only to see _Him _standing right in front of him, its stitched-lined mouth stretching wide open and letting out a horrible scream. Its hollowed eyes glared down at him as blood poured out of them.

He had no time to react as the nightmarish fiend raised its weapon high up in the air, a blade outfitted with the crude teeth-like design of a chainsaw, and brought it down on him.

* * *

><p><em>Outside Logan's mind; Normal POV<em>

Logan shot upward as he let out a sharp gasp. He searched the area frantically as his hands reached down to the left side of his waist, the area where Nexus' weapon had hit him. He immediately noticed that it was morning, a little after dawn, and from overhead he could hear birds calling out. The lake was still in front of him, and the sun's rays peeked through the leaves of the trees.

He was relieved to find out that there were no signs of scarring and no pain as his hand covered his waist. _Guess I made it through another night without injury._ He thought.

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he immediately looked back at the tent the two trainers were sleeping in. The tent was still there, unscratched or not bothered by anything outside. He breathed out in relief again. They were okay.

His gaze fell back on the lake, seeing the water flow ever so calmly in response to the breeze. A sharp pain throbbed within his head, making him cringe as he brought a hand up to massage his forehead. He really hated having those nightmares, but nothing made him more enraged than seeing Nexus. Once again, he had him right there, ready to bring him down with his swords, and _again_ he froze in place! Unable to do anything but watch as the fiend came close to killing him! He had spent years preparing himself for the day he'll one day free his mind from Nexus' grasp, and so far he had yielded no success. What was he doing wrong?

Taking his eyes away from the lake, he looked back at the tent and felt the growing frustration subside. He didn't need to use his second sight to know that they were still in there. Even so, he had faced a few Endless that were capable of attacking without leaving any signs of their presence around. _Guess I should go check up on them._

The Vanguard got up on his feet and made his way to the tent, all the while berating himself for failing to destroy that nightmare again. He was so close too, and yet somehow Nexus managed to succeed in the end. How could he have possibly failed at that attempt again?

_No sense in drowning myself with these kinds of thoughts. _He voiced out in his head as he pushed the questions back. _I need to focus, and keeping my mind focused on that rotting corpse won't do anything about it._ He soon reached the front of the tent and grabbed the zipper, pulling it up until it could go no further, and peered inside.

As soon as he did, though, he could not help but smile.

Lying on an assortment of pillows and a large blanket were Red and Yellow, both of them curled up and wrapped in each other's arms. Yellow's head rested against the nook of Red's neck, breathing softly as she slightly shook in her sleep. Her face bore a light shade of red, hinting that she must be dreaming something that she liked. Her long, yellow hair was untied, letting it lie across the makeshift bed. Red wasn't wearing his trademark cap, so Logan had a chance to see the mass of spiky black hair that he had. How the hat was able to stay on his head with his hair that spiky was beyond him. Like Yellow, he too had a small blush on his face, but it wasn't as much as the former's.

He closed his eyes for a few moments before opening them again. His eyes glowed brighter than they did before, and the interior of the tent immediately darkened. Everything became a shade of black and grey, from the tent walls to even the sunlight that peered through the door. The only two that showed a different coloured, though, were the two trainers. Their bodies glowed in a vibrant blue, and he could see in the center of their chests a light resonating in a steady rhythm. He recognized the meaning behind the beats, and couldn't help but smile even more.

He shifted his vision back to normal and zipped the door back up. _Guess I should leave them be for now. At least until they finish with their fantasies._

His ears picked up on the sound of bushes rustling nearby, immediately catching his attention. His head turned to where the sounds were originating from and his hand immediately reached for the dagger.

The bushes shook, even more furiously now, until a small shape burst out of them. It ran at high speed at Logan, and before he had time to react, it pounced.

* * *

><p>Red was the first to wake up to the sound of something crashing outside. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Yellow's beautiful, sleeping face. He blushed heavily as he felt her warm breath against his neck. She was snuggled so deep into him that he could feel her heartbeat against his chest. It was so gentle in contrast to his, it seemed to match her personality perfectly. And the way she slept… she looked so peaceful.<p>

He noticed that the black band that she usually wore to hold her hair up was off, allowing him to look in admiration of her hair. It was so long that it reached below her waist. Now that he thought about it, he'd never seen her with her hair like this before. She always had it tied up in a ponytail, so he never had a clear idea of how it really looked without the band.

_She's… so beautiful._ It was the first thought that crossed his mind. His hand found itself brushing a finger gently across her cheek to move a strand of hair that was there. Her mouth moved slightly, mumbling something in her sleep. Arceus, he really wanted to kiss her so badly. She just looked so cute to him the way she slept. And the way her lips were slightly parted away, almost inviting him to close the distance, was enough to make his heart go in a frenzy.

He quickly caught on to what he was thinking and furiously shook his head. _What am I thinking?! Yellow's my best friend! I shouldn't be thinking of these things while she's asleep!_

He was pulled away from his thoughts by the sound of barking. And judging from the way it was, it sounded like it was coming from right out the tent. He felt Yellow beginning to stir in his arms and shuffle around. Taking this as an opportunity, he gently removed his arms from her. Soon as he did, her hands reached for one of the pillows and brought it closer to her. The barking grew louder, and this time, the Viridian girl slowly opened her eyes, wondering what was making all that noise.

She saw Red lying beside her and noticed just how close they were. Her eyes were now wide open as she felt her body suddenly warming up in response to his and lurched up, her hair now strewn around the makeshift bed. "Re–" She couldn't finish her sentence as Red covered her mouth with his hand. Her entire face was now a deep crimson, and it was only thanks to Red signalling to her to be quiet that she didn't exclaim in embarrassment.

He removed his hand and made his way over to the entrance. He grabbed for one of his Pokéballs and held it tightly in his hand. The barking was louder this time, and he thought for sure that he heard Logan's voice just now. Yellow had joined up with him with one of her Pokéballs, and her hair was already tied up in a ponytail. He mentally counted up to three before he unzipped the door and the two burst out, ready to call out their Pokémon at a moment's notice.

What they saw instead made them stop in their tracks.

Logan was lying on his back, his arms by his side, with a strange white fur coloured creature on him. It had a similar look and structure to a Growlithe, but it had a small black button nose, ears that jutted up like a Meowth's, and its tail was straighter and less bushy.

The little creature licked the side of Logan's face before it was picked up by the collar of its neck. The Vanguard got up to a sitting position and stared at the creature, either surprised or confused about its sudden appearance. Red couldn't tell exactly. "Scruffy? How did you know that I was here?"

The creature, now known as Scruffy, replied with a bark.

Knowing that he'll never understand it, he groaned quietly and placed it beside him. Now that it was free, it zipped around him, barking loudly before it stopped and looked at him, wagging its tail happily and its tongue out. He extended his hand out to it, and in response it began to lick his hand before rubbing its head against it affectionately.

Yellow had never seen such a strange creature before. It was definitely not a Pokémon, otherwise she would have known about it. And it was small too. How could such a small creature be able to pin Logan down to the ground?

The Vanguard took notice of their confusion towards Scruffy and spoke, "I take it you've both never seen a puppy before."

"A… A puppy?" Yellow repeated.

"I figured you guys might not know what that is since you have Pokémon instead of animals." he said in a matter-of-fact tone before explaining, "Where I'm from, we have these creatures called animals that look similar to the Pokémon you guys have, but they don't have any powers like fire or ice or lightning. Scruffy here is a puppy, which means that he's a younger dog."

The mentioned puppy quickly ran up to Yellow and placed its front paws on her leg and barked. She knelt down and began to pet it, and was surprised to see it licking her hand. The feeling of its tongue on her hand made her giggle.

"He's so cute!" Yellow squealed, "Is he yours?"

Logan shook his head. "No. He belongs to a kid I know called Leira. Speaking of which," He bent down so that he could look at the young dog in the eyes, "How's she doing? Is she okay?"

His answer was another bark, but this was more energetic than before.

The Vanguard was relieved to hear the news. "That's good to hear."

Red knelt down to take a closer look at the puppy, who had already moved away from Yellow and placed his paws on him. The puppy barked happily as he waited for Red to pet him, who did so with slight hesitation. "How long has this Leira girl had him for?"

"A year, I think. She's very shy around people, so it was hard for her to make friends. Her parents decided to buy her a pet in order for her to have someone to be with her. Since then, the two have become inseparable, going wherever the other goes."

Yellow became interested in the topic, as it reminded her of when she first got Ratty. "How old is Leira?"

"Six."

To say that Yellow was shocked to hear that was an understatement. She had never heard of children at that age having their own pet. "What? And she's been raising him all on her own?" she asked.

Logan shook his head. "Mostly. Sometimes me and Amanda chip in to look after him while Leira's busy."

"She sounds like a sweet girl. Would it be okay for us to go see her?"

He pondered over the request for some time before he finally answered. "Sure. I don't see why not." He gave her a smirk as he added, "Plus, it would be a great opportunity for her to make some new friends." He looked away from the two trainers and down at the puppy, "Hey Scruffs, you think you can lead us back to Leira?"

The young canine barked before he got up on his paws and ran to the edge of the clearing. He stopped and looked back before barking, waiting for them to catch up.

Red scratched the back of his head as he made his way to the tent. "We should probably get to work on taking down the campsite. No sense in leaving it here." he said to the others as he began to pull out the stuff that was inside.

Yellow nodded her head and grabbed one of the bags before she joined up with him. "We can head for Viridian City to put them away at my home, then head for Pallet Town to put away the rest."

"Yeah! And while we're at it, we can go check up on Green and see how he's doing! It's only been a few weeks since what happened at the Battle Frontier, so he's probably working extra hard at the Gym to keep it up and running."

Logan watched as the two trainers continued their talk as they began to pack up the campsite. He had to admit, he admired how calm they were, given what happened yesterday. At the very least, they were taking it a lot better than he expected. Perhaps he underestimated them.

With a shook of his head and a non-existent smirk, he walked over to give them a helping hand.

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for them to finish packing up the campsite, as they were now making their way to Viridian City. Logan walked ahead of them with Scruffy by side, carrying most of the camping gear and medicine, while Red and Yellow followed closely behind with their own bags.<p>

The trip was more or less a quiet one, and for a good reason. Yellow knew for a fact that, even though he was being friendly with them and helped them out, there was still something about Logan that bothered her greatly. He had told them what happened that made him wind up in this mess, but that was about it. There was still so much about him that they didn't know about. Who were these people that he mentioned who were with him? What was hidden beneath those bandages that were around his torso? Where he did he obtain those weapons and that power? Even if he had used a small amount against the Endless, she could still sense a lot more inside of him.

And more importantly, just who exactly was he? He had purposely left out his back story during his explanation, so there were still some things that she didn't know about; like what his family and friends were, what his childhood was like, or his thoughts on this whole war thing and his reasons for being in it. He knew a great deal about her, and yet she knew nothing about him. This made her feel like he was being unfair to her.

Scruffy's barking evidentially brought her out of her thoughts, and as they stepped out of the shade of the trees and into open sunlight, she could see the familiar buildings and structures that was Viridian City. She smiled as soon as they the city. It wasn't exactly home to her like the Forest, but it was the closest thing to one.

The group began walking down the streets of the city, passing by people old and new to them. Some people recognized them and exchanged their hellos while others asked if they'll have a match with them one day. Some people though took notice of the Vanguard that was with them and backed away. Whether it was because of his intimidating form or the way his eyes seem o glare right into their soul, Yellow couldn't be sure. But she couldn't help but notice the tinge of sadness that appeared in his eyes.

After a minute or so went by, Red spotted a grey coloured building close by, and the sign that was on top of the doors. The sign was merely one word consisted of three letters, reading out as _'Gym'_. He pointed at the building as he caught up with Logan. "Let's go see if Green's at the Gym."

"Green?" A non-existent eyebrow rose up in curiosity on Logan's face. He had heard them say that name before, but he didn't pay much attention to it up until now.

"A really good friend of ours." Red explained, "I've known him for more than five years and he's a really good trainer. Practically gave me a well fought battle in the Championships." He grinned at that last statement.

"He's probably in the middle of a battle." Yellow interjected.

"All the more reason to go see him!" Red smiled at her. She felt her blood rush to her cheeks once again as she shyly looked away. Arceus, she loved that smile. It always made her heart go into overdrive. She heard him talking once more, "With any luck, we might be able to introduce him to…" He turned around to see that Logan was no longer standing beside them, but already standing a few feet away from the Gym's front doors, "…you." he finished.

They caught up to him as he continued looking at the building, expecting it to open if he glared at it hard enough. Red cupped both his hands over his mouth and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hey Green! It's us! Red and Yellow! We want you to meet someone!"

Silence was his only answer. No one emerged through the front doors, and no one responded to his shout. He didn't even hear the familiar sounds of a Pokémon battle happening. He walked up to the doors and reached for the handle…

"He's not inside."

Red jumped upon suddenly hearing Logan's speak up and turned to face him. "How do you know?"

"First off," He pointed at the doors, "The sign says closed." Red followed his finger and saw the sign as well. He sweat dropped. "Second," Logan continued, "There's a note taped to the door. It says that he's gone to Pallet Town for something important."

"Pallet Town?" Red repeated, "He's probably there to go see Professor Oak."

"Professor… Oak?"

"He's one of the greatest researchers on Pokémon who has his lab established in Pallet Town." Yellow replied, "He's also Green's grandfather."

Logan was even more confused over the fact that someone had Oak as a last name, but decided to go along with it. "I see."

Red looked over at Yellow as he stepped away from the doors, "Looks like you'll get to meet him after all. Once we drop off Yellow's stuff and then mine, it's just a short walk to the lab from there."

"Then there's no sense for us to be standing here, then." Logan added as he walked past the two trainers. He stopped and turned around, his eyes landing on the Viridian Girl, "Which way is it to your home, Yellow?"

She walked over to him and pointed at the road that was beside the Gym. "Down this road. It's closer to my home, so we should be able to arrive at Pallet Town a little early."

"Alright. Let's get going. I'm interested to know more about this Green friend of yours."

And with that, the two humans, Vanguard and canine made their way to where Yellow's home was. Logan walked behind the trainers this time, as it seemed logical for them to lead the way, and that he was unfamiliar with this city's layout. It wasn't the only reason, though, and soon his mind was already processing over the information he knew so far.

His friends were more than likely close by, as Scruffy's appearance had proven that. The question, though, was had all of them met up by now. If they have, then they're more than likely waiting for him, and he didn't want to make them impatient. But if some of them were still out here, then he needed to find them, and fast.

_It's not that I don't mind Yellow and Red's company, but at a time like this I need to have a familiar face around. And with the Endless somewhere out there, then we need to regroup at once and come up with a strategy to deal with them. It's only a matter of time before they launch an offensive._ He hummed as another thought crossed his mind, this one causing his body to tense a little bit. _We also need to figure out who's leading the Endless this time. With powerful Endless like Arachnia and the Wargarians, it's only a matter of who or what were exactly up against._

He flinched as he felt another headache assault his mind again. He gritted his teeth and placed a hand over his face, trying to push back the pain. _Damn headaches. Keep getting more and more frequent as the days pass._ The pain lasted for a while before it vanished. While grateful that it was over, it did nothing to remove the Vanguard's anger. _He's really starting to get on my nerves now. I need to think of some way to stop him… and end this pointless nonsense._

_But… what exactly can I do to stop him? He's not even a living being like the Endless or the Wargarians. Anything I throw at him he just ignores it, and he keeps getting stronger every day. He knows all my strengths, my weaknesses… my past and my friends. He knows everything about me that he can exploit as a tactic, and I know none of his. I'm at a major disadvantage against him._

He realized that if he continued to ponder over these thoughts, then they'll be the only thing he'll think about for the day. He has to focus on finding his friends first. And from there, focus on the Endless.

Right now, though, he needed to focus on putting away some camping gear.


	8. Reunion at Pallet Town

**(A/N [August 16, 2013]: This chapter was released alongside Chapter 6 since they were originally planned to be one chapter, but the idea was later scrapped since it would be too big. Like the last few chapters, some text were removed mainly because they weren't needed and a few changes were made.**

**I apologize in advance if these updates are taking a while, and I understand that you are all patiently waiting for Chapter 23 to come out. Once I finish with the updates on Chapter 8 or 9, I will go and work on it, so at least there will be a bit of progress on the story besides these edits.)**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 7: Reunion at Pallet Town<strong>

Twenty minutes have passed since the group had reached Yellow's home and dropped off her camping gear until they were now walking down Route 1 and heading for Pallet Town. Yellow had been upset when they arrived at her home to find out that the rice balls she made for her and Red were exactly where she had left them; on the dining table. They had gotten cold and stale as a result of being left out for too long, and she planned on throwing them out until Logan used his powers to heat them again. Even though food never becomes fresh when its heated again, somehow Logan was able to make them smell and taste like they just came out of the oven. So now, the group was eating what was left of the rice balls as they made their way to Red's hometown.

…Mostly Red and Yellow were eating the leftovers. For some reason, Logan had declined the offer to eat any of it. They weren't sure whether it was because he didn't like them or if he wasn't hungry, but it just seemed strange.

It didn't take long for them to finally arrive at their destination, and when they did, they were greeted by a warm breeze. Houses made of bricks and wood and tall trees were dotted across the partially hilly landscape. The air smelled fresh to the point that it was rejuvenating, and from where he was, Logan caught a glimpse of the ocean that was on the other side of the town.

After several moments of taking in the sight, they began to move once more. Their first stop was Red's home so that they can drop off his stuff, then follow Scruffy to where Leira was. From the way he acted, she was somewhere nearby, which means she's somewhere in the town.

Red approached the front door of his home and searched his pocket for the key. He was about to insert it as soon as he found it before he heard a familiar voice calling out.

"Red! Yellow!"

Both mentioned trainers and Logan looked to the side to see an older teen running towards them. She was wearing a blue sleeveless shirt with darker blue trims around the sleeves, neckline and bottom, a red skirt that partially reached down to her knees and a white hat with a red pokélogo on it. A dark blue wristband was on each wrist, and her feet were covered by a pair of long blue socks and white sneakers with a red stripe across the top. She had long brown hair that reached down to her waist and eyes as blue as the ocean. She had a very slim figure, almost like that of a model.

Logan watched as the teen ran up to Yellow and pulled her into a hug, her head placed beneath the older girl's breasts. "I'm so glad to see you guys! How was the camping trip? Did you guys have some fun?" she spoke rapidly as she let go of the younger girl.

"Um… well… it was… uh…" Yellow wasn't sure how to properly explain it to her friend. How could she ever believe her if she told her that they were attacked by a bunch of monsters and their friend was from another world? She would think that it was some kind of lie she made up. And her friend is a master of lies and deception.

The teen noticed Yellow's fidgeting and smiled mischievously, "Oh, I see. You and Red were getting _well acquainted_, were you?" She saw the Viridian girl blush heavily and squealed in delight, "I'm so happy for you, Yellow! You're becoming more of a woman everyday!"

She saw Yellow frantically waving her hands at her, "No, no, no! I-It's not like that!"

"Oh I believe you~!" The teen laughed sarcastically. She didn't look at Red to notice the giant blush he had on his face, but instead looked at the person that was new to her. She walked up to Logan, tilting her head like a curious cat, and spoke, "And who are you, handsome?"

Logan felt slightly awkward about the handsome part, but merely replied. "Logan. I'm a… friend of Yellow's." he said the lie through gritted teeth. He wasn't a big fan of lying, but at the moment he knew nothing about this person and wouldn't believe his story like the others did.

She placed a finger over her mouth and tapped lightly, lost in thought, "Logan… Logan… Where have I heard that name before?" Her eyes perked up and she snapped her fingers, "Oh! Now I know! You're the one that Saria was talking about!"

He was caught off guard when he heard that name. "You know Saria?"

"Of course! She's over at Professor Oak's lab looking for you, along with a few other people. They were talking about why they were here, but didn't want to continue without you." She leaned her head forward while cupping a hand underneath her chin. Her eyes looked him up and down, taking every bit of detail about him, and hummed in thought. She continued this for a while until she nodded her head. "You definitely look like how she described you. Stubborn and quick-tempered, but also loyal and protective. You're eyes are even as she described; sharp yet mesmerizing, and with a gaze that carries strong emotions."

"Um… thanks?" He wasn't sure whether to feel complimented or awkward about someone he didn't know describing him that way, even if it was Saria who told them about him. He pushed it away and looked at her directly. "Can you take me to where Saria is?"

"Sure. The lab's just a short walk from here. I'll lead the way for you."

Logan nodded his head and followed the teen as soon as began to walk away, with Scruffy walking beside him. Yellow took a few steps before she looked back at Red.

He noticed her gaze at him and smiled, "You go on ahead. I'll catch up as soon as I can."

"Okay…" she said meekly. She turned around and followed after Logan and the older girl before looking back at Red just in time to see him vanish into his home.

She felt… strange. That was all there was to put it. She usually felt happy and excited whenever she was around her friends, and whenever Red was around, it made the feeling even better. But when he wasn't around, she felt empty. Like a part of her was taken away and left nothing but a small void in its place. Even though it was for a few minutes, she couldn't help but worry for his safety. After what happened last night, she was afraid of more of those Endless things showing up and causing trouble.

As they got closer to the lab, the older girl looked over her shoulder at Logan, "By the way, my name's Blue. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." he replied before he was silent once again.

Blue took notice of it and decided to continue talking, "So, you're friends say you're pretty strong. Throwing boulders the size of houses with no problem and taking down bigger Endless with a single punch."

"I don't consider myself to be that strong. There are others who are stronger than me. But I won't deny it either."

"Either way, it must be cool to have that kind of power and using it to protect your friends."

"Maybe, but when you're the one who has these powers, then you begin to question yourself why you have them."

Yellow wasn't entirely sure what he meant he said that, and judging from Blue's movement, so was she. But it wasn't long until she heard her friend's voice again, this time loud enough for her to hear clearly. "Here we are!"

'Here' turned out to be an ordinary building that looked nearly identical to the other buildings. Nearly. The building was much wider and taller, and satellites and wires were strewed about on the roof. There appeared to be some activity recently as the front yard was littered with footprints.

Without waiting for anyone to speak, Blue eagerly opened the door and called out, "Hey guys~! I'm back! And guess who just came to town?" She stood at the side and let Logan and Yellow in. Scruffy wasted no time in running inside and barking, heading off to some part of the lab.

The inside of the lab was, as Logan could put it nicely, an organized mess. Paper and books covered every square-inch of the lab, on the desks, shelves, even on the floor. Computers and other sorts of machinery whirred with activity. A couch was on the opposite side of a large TV, and in-between the two was a coffee table with a few sheets of paper and a remote. He spotted a flight of stairs that went up to the second floor hugging the left wall.

Yellow looked to the side and saw recognized two faces; Green Oak and his grandfather Professor Oak. Green was wearing a black coloured t-shirt with a pair of purple jeans and black shoes. His brown spiky hair almost masked the left side of his face and his green eyes carried a sharp, yet calm emotionless glare. Like Blue, he wore purple wristbands on each wrist. The Professor was wearing his white lab coat over his purple shirt and a pair of brown jeans. His large grey eyebrows gave his eyes a serious glare, but there was no hiding the humbleness that was there.

"Yellow! Good to see you!" Professor Oak greeted, "How's everything going?"

Yellow bowed lightly to him and replied, "Fine, Professor. Thank you for asking." She looked over at Green and waved as she smiled, "Hey Green."

Green's face didn't change expressions, but he simply waved a hand to her, "Hey."

She noticed that his attention wasn't on either her or Blue, but on the person he was unfamiliar with. She looked at Logan and noticed that he was staring back at him with the same emotionless glare. It looked as if they were studying each other, anticipating each other's possible action. Thankfully, Logan averted his gaze from him and the Professor and looked at another part of the lab. She followed his gaze, unsure as to what he was looking, and soon saw why.

Sitting at one part of the lab were five people that she had never seen before. Two of them were definitely human, but the other three were completely alien to her. One was a large robot clad in silver metal and optics that seemed to glare right into her soul. The other two were female, based on their shape, and looked nearly human except for the obvious differences. One had skin that was purely white, as though she was like snow, violet eyes and long indigo hair. The other looked exactly like Logan with the night black skin, lack of facial features, and glowing blue eyes.

Blue walked up to Yellow and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "I'll let Shadow Boy introduce you to his friends while I go talk to Green." she said before she walked over to where Green was.

Yellow followed after Logan as he already made his way to the newcomers. As they drew closer, one of the humans spoke up, "Well, look who decided to show up. We were just thinking about setting up a search party for you." Even though he said it in a joking manner, his tone made it sound like he was full of himself.

"And I was just thinking how my life could have gone better without you making pointless attempts at making jokes." Logan replied in the same manner, though it made him sound more frustrated towards the human.

"Gotta keep the team in good spirits, you know."

Logan shook his head as he pointed at the human, "Yellow, this is Brady."

Brady was a Caucasian human who was taller than Logan by a couple of inches with wild dirty brown hair and orange eyes. His clothes consisted of a grey t-shirt with skull designs on it, a pair of brown cargo pants and a pair of white sneakers with red accents. An unusually large smile was on his face as he reached for the Viridian Girl's hand. "Hello, Yellow. I must say that you are one of the cutest girls that I've ever met. Perhaps we can know each other a bit more by, say, having dinner at a restaurant of your choice?"

No sooner did he say that did a steel fist appeared and hit him on the side his face, making a loud crunching sound, and sent him barrelling to the wall. He landed with a thud and stayed embedded to it, twitching by the sudden attack. Shocked over what she just saw, she looked at where the fist came from and saw that it was Logan, who flicked his wrist as the machinery in it started to shake. "You'll have to ignore him. He has a tendency to hit on every girl he sees. He can be a handful sometimes…" He pointed at the next person in line, "Over here is Brennan,"

Brennan was the shortest out of all of them, being slightly taller than Yellow by a mere inch. He had darker, more tanned coloured skin, straight auburn hair and black coloured eyes. He was wearing a faded navy blue t-shirt with an eagle on it and a pair of blue jeans. He lifted a hand up to Yellow and smiled, "Pleased to meet you."

Yellow was surprised when she heard his voice. He looked so young, and his voice merely added more to his childish appearance. She took his hand and gently shook it.

After she finished shaking his hand, she was guided over to the next person. This time it was one of the females. "This is Amanda William Jefferson. One of my closest friends and a Psion*."

If Yellow had to describe Amanda right now, she would have to say that she looked absolutely beautiful. Her skin was a pure porcelain white, clear of all blemishes and wounds, and her violet eyes seemed to keep her locked in their magnificent stare.. Her indigo hair reached midway down to her back and poking out of it were not ears, but a multitude of fins that all formed together at the base. She wore a dark green t-shirt with the left sleeve longer than the other, a long light violet skirt, and black shoes. The Psion stood up and curtseyed, "It's nice to meet you, Yellow. I've been hearing a lot about you from Blue. And I have to agree with her, you look pretty cute." She saw the blush that appeared on Yellow's face and giggled to herself before she leaned closer to her, "I take it Logan hasn't been getting you into trouble."

"I heard that." Logan grumbled from behind the trainer.

Amanda looked up at him and gave him a smirk, "I know. That's why I said it."

He shook his head again, except this time there was a smile, before he continued on, "The giant robot standing by the wall is David Valour,"

At first, he looked taller when she first saw him, but now that she was up close, she could see that he was definitely _much _taller than she thought. Possibly seven to eight feet, maybe. He was made up of nothing but metal that gleamed silver in the indoor light. His large hands possessed five fingers, while his legs ended with three digits; two on the front, one on the back, and his knees were bent. He had a very masculine build as well, his torso and shoulders taking up more than half of his size. His optics were icy blue, and there was no mistaking that wealth of knowledge that was there. Yet his expression was nowhere near as kind or welcoming as the others. Even though it was hard to tell, the way he glared at her as though he was looking past her made her feel like she was being studied like some sort of lab rat.

Logan sensed the uneasiness coming from the trainer and pointed her over to the last person. "And this is our newest friend and my Guide, Saria."

Having a closer look at her, Yellow could see that she looked _nearly_ identical to Logan in every way. She had the same pitch black skin and her eyes were a solid ocean blue instead of green and yellow. She lacked the antennas that Logan had and had normal looking ears and black hair that reached down below her collarbone. Her hands possessed no claws, either. Yellow had to admit that besides the skin and glowing eyes, Saria could definitely pass for a human.

Her clothes were slightly unusual, though. She wore a pair of red bellbottoms* with a white line traveling up the side of each leg and open-toed sandals, but it was the top that caught her attention. The top was nothing more than a long strip of white cloth wrapped tightly around her upper chest, flattening her breasts in the process. Judging by the look of it, though, it seemed as though they weren't that large for her to bother putting the cloth over them, so there must be another reason.

She heard the mysterious girl speak with a formal tone, something that she rarely hears, "Yellow Caballero. It is truly an honour to meet you. I have heard many great things about you." She began, "It must have been frightening to go up against a group of people like the Elite Four by yourself. And at the age of eleven, no less. You are a truly brave human, Yellow."

Yellow rubbed the back of her head, feeling embarrassed by the compliment, "Um… t-thank you."

Saria looked away from Yellow's blushing face and noticed that Logan's attention was elsewhere. He looked at the doorway that Scruffy had last taken, then looked over to the stairwell, then back at the entrance. It looked like he was trying to find someone, but didn't know where they were. A slight smile appeared on her face as she leaned closer to Yellow, "It appears that Logan has noticed that someone is missing from the group."

"Who?" Yellow whispered back.

Her answer was revealed when Logan looked at the group and called out questioningly, "Has anyone seen Leira?"

"HERE I AM!" a voice replied happily.

Everyone watched as a small girl appeared with Scruffy by her side and ran towards Logan, arms outstretched. He turned around just in time to catch her and lifted her up as she wrapped her arms around his head. Yellow watched as the two started to laugh happily as Logan set her on top of his shoulder.

"Hey, Leira!" He exclaimed, "How's your day been so far?"

The little girl giggled as she hugged his head again, "Great Papa! I was playing hide and seek with Vince! He's really good at it!"

A blush appeared on Yellow's face as she looked back at Saria, confused over what she just heard. "Papa?"

"It is a long story," Saria said, "And it is not the kind that you are thinking of." That was enough to dampen the Healer's blush.

She looked back and saw Logan placing Leira back on the ground and next to Scruffy, who already began to circle around the girl happily. She skipped a few steps forward before she noticed Yellow standing beside Saria. She walked closer to her and looked at her with curious eyes.

At the same time, Yellow took the time to examine the child back. She was less than half of her size, reaching up to about four feet, with green eyes and raven coloured hair that went past her shoulder blades. Her skin was a lighter shade of peach in comparison to Brennan and clothes consisted of a purple shirt with a floral pattern on it and a skirt around the bottom, blue denim jeans and white socks. Some of her hair was braided and traveled down the left side of her face.

The two continued to stare for what felt like minutes before the younger one finally spoke. "Hi! Nice to meet you! My name's Leira! Leira Myers!" She pointed at herself, then extended her hand out to the older girl, "What's your name?"

Yellow took the girl's hand and gently shook it, "Yellow Caballero. It's nice to meet you, too." she said, "You have a really nice name, Leira."

"Really?" The child beamed, "So is yours! It sounds so pretty! Papa said the same thing too about my name, even though I always wanted something simpler, but he said that it was perfect for me!"

"You like Logan as your father, do you?"

Leira smiled even wider, "Of course! Even though he's not my real daddy, he's still doing his best to be like one!"

The two looked to the side as they heard the door opening and saw Red standing by the doorway, minus all the bags. He waved a hand to the people inside and stepped in. "Hey guys! Sorry I'm late!"

The Professor was the first to greet him, "Ah, Red! Good to see you!"

Green said nothing, but nodded his head to him, while Blue waved back at him.

Logan walked over to Leira and placed a hand on her shoulder, then looked at Yellow as he pointed at Red with his other hand, "I'll let you introduce my friends to Red. I have to go talk to Saria."

"Okay." was all she said before running over to Red's side and moving him to where Brady and Brennan were.

He patted Leira's shoulder and knelt down enough so that he could stare at her at eye-level, "I'm going to be talking to Saria for a bit. Why don't you go play with Amanda until I'm done?"

The child nodded her head happily, "Okay, Papa!" she exclaimed before she ran over to where Amanda was.

Seeing her go off to Logan made his way to where Saria was and sat down on the chair beside her. The Vanguard smiled at him softly as he folded his arms over his chest and leaned back on the chair.

"Once again, you succeed to impress with me with how well you are raising Leira." she said to him once he was comfortable.

"You say it as though it's meant to be difficult." he replied back.

"Given that you are the Warrior, your tasks are already difficult enough without having her under your care."

He shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe I like to challenge myself sometimes."

Saria noticed something was off about him and voiced out her concern, "You seem troubled, Logan. Is everything all right?"

He grumbled beneath his breath before answering, "...Yeah. Everything's fine. Don't worry."

Her expression didn't change upon hearing his answer. She glanced up at the others, thankful that they were busy conversing with one another, before looking back at Logan. "I know you are lying, Logan." She whispered quietly, but still loud enough for him to hear, "I can tell just by looking at your eyes."

"I told you everything's fine, Saria."

"You had the nightmare again, did you not?" she continued on, not listening to him in the slightest, "The one of Nexus?"

Logan's eye twitched upon hearing the name, giving Saria the notification that she was on the right track. He growled deeply and curled his arms even closer to him, "Can we talk about this later? You know, when the others aren't close by." he stated, not bothering to hide the anger that was slowly rising up.

"Would you rather prefer that I use the Mind Meld on you and learn the truth myself?" she countered back.

"I thought you promised that you wouldn't use that on me again."

"Only when there is something important that I must know of, or if it is an emergency and this qualifies as both."

Logan opened his mouth to argue back, but nothing came out. Even if he could say something, he knew that she was right, and those were her exact words when he made her promise. He glanced off to the side and continued, "It's nothing important. Besides, I have everything under control."

Saria shook her head at his stubbornness and pressed him even further, "Logan, I know you wish to deal with Nexus on your own, but like it or not, you need our help. If you could just let the others know of what is going on, then–"

She was cut off right away as Logan whirled his head to stare at her directly. She could feel the anger burning across her body from his eyes. "And then let them do what, exactly? Make me stay in the Infirmary and not let me come out until I get Nexus out of my head while their putting their lives on the line to stop the Endless? Make me stay so that I'm mentally sane again while everyone else is dying out there because of me?!" Even though he was keeping his voice down so he wouldn't alert the others, it still sounded like he was shouting at her. He unfolded his arms and let them slack over his knees as he hung his head low, "I can't tell them the truth, even if these nightmares are getting worse. I'd just put them in even greater danger."

There was nothing at this point that Saria could say that would change his mind, as she let out yet another defeated sigh. Once his mind is set on something, it's impossible for him to change it or give up on it, and that was both his redeeming and annoying trait. "Even so, that does not mean that you should ignore the fact that they are there for you."

"He'd just use all of you as an excuse to let me take out my anger on something. I don't want to hurt any of you because of him."

Saria was about to add something else in order to cheer her up before she heard Red's voice, which surprisingly towered above everyone else's, "Where are you going, Blue?" he asked.

Everyone in the room looked over at Blue, whose hand was on the door and a bag slung around her arm, "To the Celadon Department Store. I just remembered I needed to get some more food for my Pokémon. Plus I saw this really cool shirt the other day and I was hoping to buy it before someone else did."

"The Celadon Department Store?" Amanda mused as she handed a pink crayon to Leira, "Sounds like a big place."

Blue nodded her head, "It is. It's one of the biggest shopping centres in all of Kanto. You can find all kinds of stuff there, like TM's, vitamins for your Pokémon, clothes, toys…"

"TOYS?!" Leira beamed in sheer happiness. She dropped the crayon and left the drawing where it was before running to Logan at full speed. She clasped her hands together and gave her best attempt at making her eyes look pleading. "Can we go, Papa? Huh? Can we? Please, please, please, please, pleeaasse~?"

Logan placed a hand over his face and sighed heavily, while hearing Saria chuckling softly from the side. There was no way he can win an argument with the face Leira was making. How could anyone? It just made her look too cute to say no to. "Alright," he began as he gave her a small smile, "We can go."

The child threw her arms up happily and screamed out loud, "YAY!" Everyone stared at the child in amusement as she began to bounce around with Scruffy and giggling with joy.

Amanda got up from her seat and made her way over to where Saria was sitting. "I think we should go as well, Saria. We'd probably find some more clothes for you to wear."

The Vanguard looked down at herself quizzically before glancing back at her, "What is wrong with what I am already wearing?"

"Nothing, really. It just helps to have a few spare clothing in hand in case you're tired of always wearing that sarashi*, or if you feel like wearing something different for once."

She was about to argue with the Psion before she grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the chair, then walked over to where Blue was while half-dragging a semi-reluctant Saria behind her.

"Alright! This is going to turn out to be an interesting shopping trip!" Blue stated as her hand pulled on the handle and opened the door. She had only opened it partially before Green spoke up, catching the older teen off guard.

"Knowing you, you'll probably trick someone else into buying something for you instead of doing it yourself." His voice was calm, yet there was no mistaking the matter-of-fact tone that was there, as though he had a feeling she would do that.

She waved her hand at him dismissively and huffed, "Come on, Green. That was years ago. I'm way past that now, and you know it."

Green hummed to himself before he removed himself from the wall he was standing against and walked over to her, "Just to be sure, I'm going with you."

Blue was caught off guard by his request as she almost dropped her bag. "Yo-You are?!"

"Is there a problem?" he asked.

"Nope! No problem!" she answered, a small blush already creeping up on her cheeks. She soon tried to hide it behind a smirk as she hastily added, "P-Plus, with you coming along, it'll be much easier to carry all of the bags."

Red and Yellow couldn't help but laugh as Green grumbled something underneath his breath, obviously not looking forward to the torment that Blue will be putting him through. Knowing this, the Battler leaned over to Yellow and whispered in her ear, "Maybe we should go with them and make sure Blue doesn't get Green into trouble."

The Viridian Girl nodded her head in agreement, "Good idea."

They both gathered up their bags and rushed over to their friends' while calling out, "Uh… we'll go too! Have to get some more Potions for my Pokémon, since we're going to be doing some training later."

"And I need to get some more food for my Pokémon. They've all been doing well lately, so I've wanted to make them a nice meal as a way to celebrate." Yellow added as she began adjusting her hat.

Blue clapped her hands happily, "Great! The more, the merrier!" She opened the door and one by one, they stepped outside into the summer air.

The only people who were left by the door were Logan and Leira, who the latter was waiting patiently for her adoptive father to follow. The Vanguard glanced over at where his friends were and motioned at the door, "You guys want to come along?"

"Maybe another time," Brennan said, "I've been meaning to take a look around the town lately since we got here and converse with some of the townsfolk."

David, who casted a quick look at Logan, grunted beneath his breath before speaking. It was the first time he spoke since he'd arrive, and he still sounded as cold as ever, "I could care less what you or that Psion wench do, just as long as it doesn't interfere with my work." he said harshly.

"And I can really go for some shut-eye. Let me know how things turn out." The wild teen said as he plopped himself onto the couch and used his left arm to support his head up before closing his eyes.

Logan shook his head at David's rudeness and Brady's laziness, but kept silent about it and started to head out, "Alright, take care of yourselves."

"We will." "Whatever." Both Brady and Brennan said in unison.

With one last look, Logan closed the door and picked Leira up before setting her on his shoulder, with Scruffy walking beside him. He joined up with Saria and Amanda who were already in the middle of a conversation while the four trainers walked ahead of them. He saw Blue patting Yellow on the shoulder and caught a few words of what she said, words that could possibly be reflecting last night's camp, while Red and Green had a look of discomfort on their faces, already dreading over what Blue had in store for them.

_This is__ going to be a long day._ He thought to himself as he saw each trainer pulling out a Pokéball.

* * *

><p><span><strong>NOTE:<strong>

*Psion: A race of telepathic humanoids and close friends of the Vanguards. They possess powerful psychic abilities and can read minds.

*Bellbottoms: A type of pants that become wider from the knees downwards.

*Sarashi: A long, winding strip of cloth, usually thick cotton, that is wrapped tightly around the midriff up to the chest. Historically, samurai wore them under their kimonos to resist injury.


	9. BaCC I: The Attack

**(A/N: This chapter was a pain to edit, but probably the most enjoyable, simply because I am introducing more of each character's personalities. I tried to get the GreenxBlue pairing as well as some more RedxYellow on here, but I'm afraid that I might have messed it up on some parts. This one is a very long one, about 23 pages on Microsoft Word, so I hope you all enjoy.**

**Reviews and critiques are always welcome. Also, feel free to let me know what you guys think of the OC's so far and what your OC is.)**

**~ Neoshadow574 (Shadow-War on )**

**EDIT:**** Fix some of the errors I spotted as well as splitting the chapter into different segments where it goes to each character and going through their fights. I will most likely edit some more if I notice anything else.**

**EDIT 2: I have noticed many errors while looking back at this entire story, so I have decided to fix them all and put in the new updated versions.**

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 8: Battle at Celadon City Part I: The Attack<span>**

The trip to Celadon City took, for the most part, a lot less time than Logan originally thought it would take. He had seen a map at the Professor's lab of the Kanto Region and saw that Celadon City was east from the Viridian Forest. While there was the possibility of taking the longer route to the city, it would have taken about three or more hours to get there. This trip was no less than five minutes.

The reason? He had forgotten that each trainer had a flying Pokémon with them. Red had his Aerodactyl which he and Yellow rode on, Green had his Charizard which Saria rode with him, and Blue had, strangely, a Wigglytuff that can inflate itself and fly around which she and Amanda were on. The only two people left were him and Leira. Despite Leira's idea to send out Deo for travelling, he remembered that his boots had rockets installed in them and flew them both to the city.

They each landed smoothly on the pavement next to the fountain. Logan took the time as he gently placed Leira down to the ground to look up at the towering skyscrapers of the city and all around him. A building that resembled the ones like in Japan could be seen nearby. A large arrangement of flowers and other such flora surrounded the building and the fountain. Whoever tended these flowers did an amazing job taking care of them.

As he looked on, he saw a building with a large flashing sign that read 'Game Corner', and a large multi-story building that read Celadon Department Store just behind the fountain. He couldn't help but admire the sight of the large superstore.

He heard Amanda shouting out his thoughts as she quickly rushed over to his side, "Is that the department store?"

"Looks like it." He answered. He knew what was soon about to happen and quickly covered his ears.

Just as he thought, Amanda let loose a loud squeal of happiness as she began to shake him, "This is so cool! This has to be the biggest store I have ever seen! Oh, the clothes they sell must be so cute if it's this big! Eeeeeehhh! I can't wait!" She ran to Saria's side and grabbed her by the wrist as she led her inside, "Come on, Saria! Let's go pick you some nice clothes!"

The Vanguard girl was more or less embarrassed by her friend's behaviour, but politely replied to her, "Really, you do not have to do this. I can buy my own."

"Nonsense! You need someone who knows about clothes, and I'm your girl!" Logan and the others watched as she and Saria waited for the doors to slide open and quickly ran inside.

Blue laughed the whole time before walked up to Logan, "She gets excited whenever she's near a store, does she?"

He breathed heavily before replying, "She means well but she easily loses herself when it comes to shopping. She can be a bit of a handful sometimes."

"She's not the only one." Blue said as she pointed to something next to him.

Confused, Logan followed her gesture and saw Leira clinging onto his jeans and looking up at him with a wide smile, "C'mon, Papa! Let's go buy something for Deo!"

"I thought you said you wanted toys?" He asked her.

"I do, but I also want to get something special for Deo. I noticed that he hasn't been happy lately, and I really wanted to cheer him up."

"That's very nice of you, Leira." He bent down and scooped up the child with one arm and moved her up to his head. She sat on his shoulders and felt his hands against her legs as they all began to step inside the superstore.

The inside was truly a marvel. From outside, the building looked amazing, but on the inside, it was breathtaking. The entire ceiling was decorated with lights that covered every square inch of the lobby, stands selling different forms of literature, snacks, and assorted gear were placed in well made aisles. Dozens and dozens of people bustled about, some talking to one another as they were purchasing something, some enjoying the day, and even some reading a couple of novels. The air smelled sweet of candy and the only noises that could be heard were the constant chatter and the sounds from the cash registers.

He spotted Amanda and Saria talking to a woman at the front desk and walked straight to them. When Amanda noticed them coming, she turned around and smiled gleefully, "Guess what? The clothes and toys are all up on the fourth floor."

"The fourth floor, huh?" Logan said. "Alright then. Let's get a move on."

They all stepped inside the elevator as Blue eagerly pressed the button on the pad to go to the fifth floor. They felt the elevator jerk slightly as it slowly started to lift. It stopped a couple times on the way up, letting some people who were already in it out or letting more people in, until it finally stopped at their destination.

Half of the entire floor was a massive toy-land. Large dolls and toys lined the shelves and balloons of all kinds were hanged onto the ceiling. There was even a playpen area for little kids. The other half was filled to the brim with clothes of every kind. Jeans, shirts, sweaters, denim shorts, swimsuits, just about everything was in here. Upon seeing the toys and clothes, both Leira and Amanda squealed happily as they moved down one of the aisles.

Blue saw their excitement and laughed happily, "I told you this place sold all kinds of things."

Everyone watched as Amanda twirled happily and ran to the closest clothes rack, "This is a shopper's fantasy! Oh look at this t-shirt! It's so cute! Oh, and this one has a little Pikachu! That's so adorable!" She was already yanking out various articles of clothing off the racks and held them in her arms before heading over to Saria, "Come on, Saria! Let's go try these out! I'll bet some of them would look cute on you!"

Saria shook her head as she slowly walked up to her friend, "I guess I have no other choice." She looked to the side and saw Green mumbling something underneath his breath as Blue showed him a shirt with a Machamp on it. She saw him glowering at her as she nudged him in the ribs lightly with her elbow. She looked back at Logan and waved, "I will ensure that Amanda does not get into any trouble."

"Alright. Take care of yourselves." He called back.

"Will do."

That left only him, Leira, Red and Yellow by themselves. Seeing nothing else to do, he carried Leira over to the first aisle of toys and looked at each one. He noticed the giant-sized Clefairy doll and whistled loudly. "That is one big doll." He shifted his gaze up to the small child, "Alright, Leira. Time to get you some new toys."

His only response was silence. Confused, he lifted the girl off of him and set her on the ground. He bent down so that he could see her a bit better and spoke, "What's wrong, sweetie?"

She was looking all over the place; at him, at Red and Yellow, at the toys, practically everyone that walked by. One of them, a large portly man with a thick ridged beard and a trench coat cast a steely gaze at her. This frightened her greatly and made her instinctively hide behind the closest thing she knew that was safe. In this case, Logan. She buried her face on his chest, trying her best to hide from the large man.

Yellow saw this happening and slowly knelt down beside Logan, "What's wrong with her?"

"She has a fear of strangers. Whenever she meets someone she is unfamiliar with, she'll quickly hide behind the closest thing there is and wait for that person to go away. That's why she has a hard time trusting people." He explained.

Red soon joined up as he looked at Leira carefully, "Strange. She didn't act like this back at Professor Oak's Lab."

"The reason why is because Saria told her that you and your friends could be trusted. I'm guessing her time with Blue, Green and Oak convinced her that you two were okay."

"Then what about earlier, when she called me Oneesan?" Yellow mentioned, "We've never even met before, and she already thinks of me as an older sister."

He thought about it for a moment before continuing, "I'm not sure exactly. Her mind set is far different than any other child I have ever seen. However, what I do know is that just from her calling you big sister is enough for me to trust you to look after her when I'm not around."

"R-Really?" Yellow exclaimed.

"Of course. Now," He pried Leira away from him carefully and spoke, "Weren't you trying to find a toy for Deo?"

The question sparked in Leira's mind as she ran to the closest shelf, "Of course! How could I forget? I promised Deo I get him a really good gift!" She mulled over getting him a Rhydon doll or a Bulbasaur doll before scrapping the idea and looked at the next shelf over.

Smiling, Red walked over and grabbed a Growlithe doll from the shelf and brought it to Leira for her to see. After a quick no, he returned the doll and pulled out a Phanpy doll. Yellow couldn't help but giggle as the child said no again and walked over to help out.

* * *

><p>After some time had gone by, the group eventually ended up with five dolls in hand; a Pikachu, Charmander, Kirlia, Umbreon and, surprisingly, a Yoshi <em>(Logan wasn't sure as to how a store in the Pokémon world was selling a Mario toy)<em>. Leira tried her best to carry them all in her hands, but whenever she picked one up, another would fall. It went on for a full minute before Logan came over with a bin and placed the dolls inside. Now, the small group continued moving down the aisles, still looking for a good gift for Deo.

Red rubbed the back of his head as they left another aisle without looking at any of the toys on the shelves for the fourth time. Whatever Leira was looking for must be special if she's willing to go through all these aisles to find it, "You sure you know what you're looking for?"

The child looked back at Red, "Of course I do! I'm trying to find something that looks exactly like Deo! That way, he would never feel lonely."

"What does Deo look like?" Yellow asked.

"You'll see when we find it." She winked at Yellow and giggled loudly.

She looked up on the second shelf and scanned each item shown before she finally found what she was looking for. It was standing there at the very end of the shelf, signalling to her as if it was a beacon. Smiling, she ran to where it was and jumped a couple of times to reach it. Frowning, she quickly turned to Logan and shouted, "Papa, I found it! It's right there!"

They all looked at the doll she was referring to. The Pokémon it was based off of had a dominant reddish-orange coloured body with a bluish-green face and a purple stripe on its face where its nose would be. A purple crystal-like organ was in its chest, and its eyes were white and circular inside black eye sockets shaped like round parallelograms. Its skinny legs came to a point and had single, blue segmented stripes travelling from the upper-legs down to its knees. Its abdomen was black and vertically lined. Its arms were in the form of two pairs of cord-like tentacles, red and blue. It also had two trapezoid-shaped "ears" with a single blue horizontal line on each one.

Leira smiled gleefully as Logan came over and picked the doll up. He placed it in her arms and watched as she hugged it tightly; cuddling its cheek as if it was real. Red and Yellow, however, were staring at the doll with jaws wide open. The older one shook his head and pointed at the doll, "Wait a minute! _'Deo'_ is a Deoxys?!"

The little girl nodded happily, "Uh-huh! He's my best friend!" She noticed the confused look on their faces and asked, "You guys saw another one of Deo's kind?"

"Two, actually," Yellow held up two of her fingers, "And they were both being controlled by Team Rocket."

"Team… Rocket? What's that?"

She was about to answer before Logan covered her mouth, "I think it's better if she didn't know who they were. I don't want her to have those kinds of thoughts running in her head." He whispered to the Viridian Girl.

She nodded her head before Logan removed his hand from her. She saw him looking back at the child before kneeling in front of her, "Is that what you want to get for Deo?" His response was a very quick nod, "Alright. Let's go to the clerk and get these items checked out."

Once again, the group continued moving as they waited in line to purchase the toys. And all the while, Logan couldn't help but think of the others and how things are going with them.

_I'm sure they have everything under control. Green and Saria are keeping an eye on Blue and Amanda to make sure they don't buy the whole store._ He turned his head slightly to look at the clothes section and thought deeply, _Although, I can't help but wonder what they're up to now._

* * *

><p>Amanda was humming cheerfully as she stuffed yet another t-shirt inside of the bin she took when they entered the floor. She walked alongside Blue and chatted with her about some fashion tips, while Saria and Green walked behind them, the latter carrying an armload of clothes that Blue bought, and the other being tired from having to try on so many clothes.<p>

Slightly annoyed, Green looked at Blue and spoke, "Isn't this enough clothes, even for you?"

Both girls looked at him and chuckled, "Aw, come on Green! Don't tell me that a big strong man like you can't handle a few clothes?" Blue asked mischievously.

"You bought nine different sets of tops and pants!" He argued back.

"Yes, to replace the nine that I have back home that no longer fit me."

Green was about to say something else before Saria stopped her, "Do not overexert yourself. She is just teasing with you."

Amanda looked down at the Samus doll _(She was just as surprised as Logan to find out about it)_ she had in her hand for the third time before she heard Blue talking, "By the way, back at the Professor's lab, I couldn't help but notice how you were talking about Logan with high regards."

She smiled at the comment, "Well, of course I was. Logan is such a very good friend to have. He's nice and caring; he's very protective and loyal. Who wouldn't like him?"

"True, but what I meant was that you seem to care a lot about Logan, almost as if he was '_more than a friend_' to you." She air quoted the statement.

The psychic was oblivious to what the trainer was saying, "What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know exactly what I'm thinking~!"

"I… I don't-" The realization hit her almost instantly and frantically shook her head, her face blushing wildly, "Oh no, no, no! We're not like that! We're just really close friends, not boyfriend and girlfriend!"

Blue was smiling like a jester as she continued on, "It's okay to admit it. I've noticed the way you look at him and how you talk about him as if he was the greatest person you've ever met."

"He is! But he's more of an older brother to me! And besides," Her free hand went to her indigo hair and started to twirl her fingers around it nervously, "He already has his heart to someone else."

Her eyes were now filled with curiosity, "Really? Who?"

She felt her throat beginning to dry up. She wasn't sure how to explain it to Blue, exactly. How could she? It was already hard enough to convince her and Green that they were from another world. How can she explain this to her now?

"Perhaps I can explain."

As if she was reading her mind, Amanda turned to see Saria slowly walking towards them and pointed ahead of them. They followed her gesture and saw Logan, Red, Yellow and Leira all standing in line. "Do you see the bracelet that Logan wears around his wrist?"

The female trainer noticed it and nodded. She heard the Vanguard speaking again, "That bracelet was given to him as a gift from a very good friend of his named Sol Takarashi."

"Sol?"

"My best friend." Amanda answered, "We've been friends ever since we were little. All three of us, Logan, Sol and I, were really close back then. Back when none of this ever happened and we were living peaceful lives. We used to do so many crazy things, too, like climbing trees, or racing across the park."

"So what happened?" Green asked this time around. It was clear that he was also interested in the topic.

Saria looked at him sadly before continuing, "About six years ago, she had to go to Japan with her father and they wouldn't return for a very long time." Her hand slowly found its way over her heart, "Before she boarded the plane, they both made a promise."

* * *

><p>"A promise?" Red asked.<p>

Logan nodded his head, "We promised each other that no matter what happens or how much we change over the years, we would never forget who we are and that we would find a way to be back together again." He brushed his hand over the bracelet, feeling its smooth texture against his metallic fingers, "After that, she gave me this bracelet and kissed me before she boarded the plane."

"She… kissed you?" Yellow blushed a deep red.

"Even I was surprised by it." He commented, "When I saw the plane leaving the runway, I knew right then and there that Sol had loved me for some time… as I had loved her."

"That's so sweet."

Logan seemed to think otherwise as a frown spread across his face, "But… it's been six years since I've last heard or seen her, and so far there have been no reports about where she or her father are. I'm really starting to get worried."

"…Maybe something happened to her?" Red suggested.

He knew right away he shouldn't have said that as Logan quickly looked at him with a glare that rivalled that of a Seviper. "Don't say that!" He shouted, "I know she's alive out there! And I'm not going to rest until I find her!"

He felt pain tackle his chest as he saw tears welling up on the Vanguard's face He walked over to him and placed his hand on his shoulder, "…Sorry. I didn't mean what I said."

"No. I should apologize for acting out like that." He apologized, "It's just hard to find even a slimmer of hope when… everything you once knew vanishes before your eyes."

The male trainer smiled, "Apology accepted."

The line started moving again as they moved closer to the register. Yellow looked to the side and noticed the others were looking back at them. She waved to them and saw Blue and Amanda waving back. She turned back to face the Vanguard and asked, "So if Sol's the one you loved, then why didn't you tell her how you felt about her? I'm sure that would have been enough to convince her to not leave."

He shook his head, "We were kids back then. We didn't understand the concept of having a crush. And besides, even if I did tell her, it wouldn't have made a difference. Her father had to go to Japan to handle the case he was given because he was the only one capable of doing it. It's not because he didn't trust us to look after Sol while he was gone. Rather, he thought it was appropriate to bring her along and show her where her ancestors used to live."

"Oh…" She felt like changing the subject to ease the tension that was starting to build up, "Then… what was Sol like? What did you think of her?"

That got the Vanguard smiling, "Sol is probably one of the most honest and caring person you could ever meet. She's sweet, gentle and carefree, she has an amazing view on life and all things living. She's always the first to forgive others and settle conflicts. She's like an angel who descended from Heaven. And… and…"

The trainers waited as his voice drown down to a quiet whisper, "…She's the only person to have ever made me feel like I was… whole. She is the only person that is able to make me feel joy whenever I see her beautiful face, or hear her soft, soothing voice. She's the only one who actually understands me… and can lift away the tempest-like rage that plagues my heart." They saw him looking back at them with the smallest and gentlest of smiles they had ever seen, "She means the world to me. And I would do anything to make her happy."

He reached down into a pocket and pulled out a photo as they reached the cashier. He handed the photo to Red before placing each of the stuffed dolls on the counter.

"What's this?" Red asked as he looked at the photo.

"A New Years Eve photo, taken when I was only six-year-old. It's very important to me." He looked over the photo and pointed at a very young girl sitting at the front, "The girl right there is Sol."

The two trainers looked at the girl Logan had pointed to. She had chestnut coloured hair that covered half of her left eye and reached down to her shoulders, blue eyes that mirrored the very colour of the sky and small freckles on her cheeks. She wore a light green shirt with a penguin on it and a pair of blue jeans. She had an adorable smile on her face as she looked at the camera, and what Yellow could easily tell a shade of crimson on her face. She was blushing at something, yet she had no idea who or what.

It wasn't until Red noticed something familiar about the person sitting beside Sol that made her realize it, "Yellow, look at this." He pointed at the young boy that sat beside Leira who was smiling at the camera.

The boy was no less the same age as the girl, with ruffled black hair and a bandage on his left cheek. He was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans, and had his right hand up in a thumbs up. His wide smile revealed a couple of fanged teeth on the upper jaw. Much like Sol, he had a shade of crimson on his face, but it seemed to be slightly bigger in comparison. What really caught their attention was the boy's eyes. They were sharp and held an abundant of youthful energy, and there was something about them that made them realize who he really was.

"His eyes… they're not the same colour…" Red began.

"It can't be…" Yellow finished.

Red lowered the photo for a second to look back at Logan and saw the same coloured eyes looking back at him, this time seeing nothing but pure sadness in them. This was enough to confirm his suspicion, "He's you… you're the boy on the photo."

The Vanguard nodded his head.

"So… all that stuff you said… everything that's happened to you and your friends… was all true?" Yellow asked, her eyes now wide with shock.  
>"Every word." He said.<p>

"Oh, Arceus." She covered her mouth as the information began to gather in her head.

Red shook his head in disbelief, "I-Isn't there a way for you and the others to turn back to normal?"

He looked at him and sighed heavily, "I'm afraid there might not be a way." He leaned in close to them and whispered, "Don't tell this to the others, but I think that whatever Ark used to turn us into… what we are now… might be irreversible."

"So, you're saying…"

He nodded his head sadly, "That we might be stuck like this for the rest of our lives."

"That's awful!" Yellow shouted, catching some of the other customers' attention, "So there's no way for you to go back and live a normal life again?"

"I'm afraid not." He stood there, lost in thought, before he stood up straight and looked at them determinately, "But I don't care about all that now. What I care about now, in the present, is helping my friends and ending this war once and for all, so no more will have to suffer!" His metallic hand clenched into a fist and brought up beside his face. A powerful aura began to envelop it as his eyes flashed fiercely, "If an eternity of peace means having to sacrifice my life for the safety and welfare of trillions of others, then I will gladly accept that fate."

He was interrupted when Leira quickly rushed over to his side holding a bag that contained all the dolls they she bought in her hand. "I can't wait to give my present to Deo! He's going to be so thrilled!"

He smiled as he ruffled the child's hair affectionately. "I'm sure he will." He said. Hoping to forget what he said, he looked back at the trainers and smile, "Let's go meet up with the others. I'm sure they must be finished with their part."

They each nodded their head in agreement as they began to move where Blue and the others were last seen. They were only a few steps away from one of the clothes shelves before Logan stopped and clutched the side of his head with one hand, crying out slightly in pain.

Leira began to grow worried and tugged on his arm, "Papa! What's wrong?"

He didn't answer. He was busy trying to figure out where this pain was coming from. He recognized the feeling, though. It was destructive like a raging beast, and carried a dark, almost evil presence with it. He only felt this whenever they were… nearby…

His eyes flew right open as he pulled out both his swords, startling everyone that was nearby. Red and Yellow immediately jumped back a bit in surprise and shouted at the same time, "What are you doing?" "What's happening?"

He didn't look at them. His eyes flew about at every spot of the store, trying to find what he was looking for. "They're here."

"Who?" Yellow asked. "Whose here?" She had a feeling she knew who or what it was, but she needed to be sure that she wasn't right.

"The Endless."

* * *

><p>Saria was doing the same thing and searched the area with one hand holding onto a naginata* while the other relaxed by her side. She, too, had detected the Endless via headache and had immediately warned the others.<p>

"So these things appear wherever they want to?" Green asked.

"Only when there is either a strong concentration of hearts or one strong heart. Any other place that houses a strong amount of darkness also counts." The Vanguard explained, "And considering that we are inside of a mega store with all these people in it and how bad my headache was, there may be more than a hundred of them."

"A hundred?" Amanda cried out, "We have to evacuate everyone out of here!"

"That would only cause panic and make things easier for the Endless. Some of them might even escape during the confusion and kill everybody outside."

"So our only option is to stay and get rid of them before it's too late?" Green asked.  
>"Unfortunately, yes."<p>

Amanda searched around them to see if the Endless were behind them, but instead saw an unnerving sight, "Where's Blue?"

Green and Saria looked at her almost immediately with shocked faces. They quickly looked around for her, seeing where she had gone to before Green finally spotted the white pokélogo hat behind one of the clothes racks. He was about to call out for her before something else appeared, something that was neither human nor Pokemon, and stood a few feet behind Blue.

The Viridian Gym Leader quickly pulled out a Pokéball and shouted as he made a mad dash to her, "BLUE!"

* * *

><p>"Oh, this looks nice." Blue said as she inspected one of the sleeves on a really cute shirt she found. She looked down at the price tag and almost gagged. "Way too expensive for my taste, though." She looked at the shirt beside it and lifted one of the sleeves, "Ah, but this one has a nice touch to it." She reached behind her as she continued browsing the rack of shirts, "I don't know, Green. Which one do you think I should buy?"<p>

The second her hand made contact, she noted the bulkiness and rigid feeling as her hand brushed around it. It felt like she was feeling somebody's abs, and from the way she noted the muscle tone on each rib, it was six-packed. She couldn't help but squeal happily at the touch. "Oh, Green! You sly person~! I didn't know you were working out! Were you doing it for _me_?" She continued feeling the ribs as her hand glided up, never looking back at the person. "Gosh, you're so buff. I didn't think you would go all this way just to make me feel happy. But then again, I'm always happy whenever you're around, Greeny~!"

"BLUE!" someone shouted.

Blue noticed the seriousness in the voice and turned to see Green running over to her with his Scizor by his side. She was confused. How was he over there if he was over here? Unless… "Wait a minute… If Green's over there, then who am I…?"

She slowly turned her head back to look at the mysterious figure…

…and was greeted by a pair of hellish eyes nestled inside a demonic head.

She screamed out in shock as the creature roared, blowing her hat clear off of her head. She quickly moved out of the way before the thing brought a massive hand down where she once was and grabbed her hat. When she turned back to look at it, she could clearly see what the creature looked like.

It was about twice her size and incredibly muscular, with thick, bulging arms and slightly less muscular legs. Spikes lined down its spine and its demonic head possessed several curved horns on its head and underneath its serrated jaw. A glowing symbol was in the middle of its chest and its mouth opened up to reveal a drooling, crimson maw and rows upon rows of teeth. The creature roared once more before it charged at her.

Before it had the chance, Green's Scizor slammed against it by the side, sending it straight to the ground. Green immediately ran to Blue's side and helped her up, "You okay?" He asked her.

His response was her reaching inside of her bag and pulling out a Pokéball. She threw it up in the air and called out her Blastoise, Blasty. She pointed at the creature and shouted all in one word, "Hydro Cannon, now!"

The Blastoise obeyed and pointed both of its water cannons at the creature, unleashing a massive torrent of water. The Endless was unprepared as it was hammered by the water and sent flying.

* * *

><p>Logan and the others heard Blue's scream as people began to panic. They arrived just in time to see a large Endless stuck in the middle of a tidal wave flying by and crashing into the wall. They stood there in surprise and quickly looked just in time to see the creature fading away, having not withstood against the attack.<p>

"A Brute?" Logan said, "Where the hell did that come from?"

"Hey, look!" Yellow shouted over him, "It's Green and Blue!"

They followed Yellow's movement and saw both mentioned trainers just up ahead. Green had a surprised look on his face while Blue was in shock. She slumped down to her knees and clutched her chest, trying to slow down her heart. They ran over to their side just as Amanda and Saria arrived beside them.

"I've… never felt so terrified… in my life." Blue panted in between breaths.

"Endless have a tendency to do that," Logan said. He heard sounds coming from behind them and swung his sword around just in time to slice three Grims in half. Half a dozen more appeared ahead of him and screamed, catching everybody's attention, "Like so."

He slashed the first Endless that came up in half while Saria swung her naginata at another. Two more Endless took their place and jumped high up the air, attempting to get them with a leap attack. But Red saw this and called out Pika, and with a quick Thunderbolt got them both. More Grims appeared along with some Prowlers and charged all at once, but it was all in vain as Logan jumped right in the middle of the oncoming horde and sliced everyone of them to pieces.

He turned around to see if the others were okay before a Grim tackled him to the ground, knocking both swords out of his hands and began to wrestle with him. "Get off of me!" He shouted.

The creature hissed before it opened its mouth and prepared itself to shoot a dark orb Logan let go of the creatures hand and plunged it through the ground beside his head and pulled out one of his guns. Before he had a chance to fire, something flew at them from the corner of his eye and kicked the creature hard in the face. "Denied!" The figure shouted cheerfully. The blow was strong enough to send it flying and crashing through the window. It let out a horrific scream before it slammed onto the earth, dead.

Logan looked away from the broken and back at the figure to see none other than Brady reaching out a helping hand to him, "Need a lift there, chum?"

The Vanguard chuckled faintly before he grabbed his friend's hand and was lifted off the ground, "What happened to 'catching a good snooze?'" He asked as he patted his shoulder to get rid of any dust that was on him.

"I was snoozing, actually." Brady said, "'Till Alpha informed us about some activity here. We figured you guys would need a hand."

"'We'?"

They heard movement from their right and saw Brennan running up to them, panting loudly. He glared at Brady and stretched his back out a bit, "You know you could have waited for us. Not all of us can control the wind, Brady."

Brady shrugged. "Not my fault you guys are slow."

They were soon interrupted as a dozen more Endless appeared around them. They quickly drew out their weapons and glared at the enemy, their backs against one another. "Speaking of slow," Brady began again, "Where the hell is David?"

He got his answer as a large robot sailed through the window and unleashed streams of lightning at the Endless. They shook uncontrollably as the electricity burned their skin and destroyed their systems before collapsing onto the ground. The robot turned to look at the others and cracked his head a couple of times before speaking, "Does that answer your question?"

"Yes. Yes it does."

Logan ignored the conversation and focused his attention directly on Amanda, who had already arrived by his side. "What do we do?" She asked.

The Vanguard pointed at her and Brennan and directed them to the panicking crowd, "You two get everyone out of the building. The less people there are to accidentally get caught in the crossfire, the better." The two nodded before they left. He then turned his attention towards the other two by his side, "Brady, I need you to help clear out all the Endless. With your speed, you should have no problem."

"What about Iron Head here?" He pointed at David in a joking matter.

A loud roar interrupted their conversation. They all looked back and saw another Brute on the other side of the floor. It roared once more before it lowered its head and charged. David, who was smiling underneath his faceplate, slowly walked in front of the Brute's path and opened his palm slightly, letting a surge of electricity pour out, "I think it is safe to say that I shall be dealing with the larger opponents." He said rather calmly.

"Couldn't agree with you more, buddy." Brady said.

They all nodded before splitting up; Brady running towards the closest Grim and hitting it in the face with a flying knee attack, David charging at the Brute and parrying its punch with his electric infused one. Logan, meanwhile, ran back to where Saria and the other trainers were.

"I take it we need to leave as well.' Green spoke as he commanded his Scizor to slice through yet another Prowler.

"It's already bad enough without the Brutes showing up." He pointed at the stairwell with his sword, "Best chance for you guys right now is to get out of the building and regroup with the others outside."

"What about you and Saria?" Blue asked questioningly.

The two Vanguards smiled as they brought up their weapons. "We will deal with the welcoming party." Saria answered.

"By yourselves?!" Yellow cried out. While she had witnessed Logan fighting against several of these things last night, she couldn't help but worry for him.

"We've dealt with much worse before." Logan replied before he sliced a Grim that appeared behind him with little effort. "Now go! We'll cover you!"

They listened to him and followed the two Vanguards to where the exit was, dealing with any Endless that got in their way.

* * *

><p>Brady was having the time of his life. While normally he would be sleeping at this time due to sheer boredom, the timely arrival of the Endless in Celadon City was enough to make him forget about sleeping. And they were attacking en masse. What else would make this day even better?<p>

He took out the Prowler that he was fighting and focused his attention on the group of Grim's that surrounded him. Feeling his taunting nature take over, he looked at the Endless and smirked, "Hey guys! Did you hear about the new special they have in store? Now 75% off on cans of WHOOPASS!"

As soon as he said that, he spun in a 360 with one foot extending out and kicked all of the Grim's across their abdomens. One of them slammed into a shelf and toppled over with it. It broke apart and lied half buried in wood and toys. The teen glared at the Endless and shouted, "Hey! You know the rules! You break it, you buy it!"

Agitated, the Grim burst out of the rubble and sliced at Brady with its claws. But each time it did, Brady moved out of the way, letting it hit nothing but air. It roared in frustration as it pressed on with the attack. "Whoa, someone's a little temperamental! I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I must ask you to leave the store." He taunted.

The Endless had had enough and slammed one of its pillar legs against his chest. It sent him stumbling back a few feet, clutching his stomach to over the spot it hit him. After a few seconds, he regained his focus and glared at the Endless with a wicked smile across his face, "Okay. Now the gloves are off, bud!"

The wind began to pick up speed around them as papers and dust blew by them. Yet the Endless didn't care. It ran at the teenage boy with both claws extending out, snarling like a wild animal. Brady didn't give it the chance to do so and with a flick of a wrist, summoned a mighty gust of wind that slammed against the Grim and sent it spiralling back. As the creature flew, Brady ran as fast the wind and appeared right ahead of the creature. He flexed his fingers for a second before bringing his entire hand into one mighty punch and slammed the Endless to the ground. The blow was too much for it and its eyes blanked out, eventually fading away.

Brady fist pumped the air cheerfully, "Oh yeah! I rule! Brady; 13! Endless; 0!" He formed a small zero with his thumb and finger as he said that, "That's what you get for taking on the home team, suckers! Hahahahahaha!" His victory laugh was short-lived as a dark ball flew straight at him. He swore under his breath and moved out of the way before the orb struck where he was just standing. He looked at where it came from and saw many more Grim's and Prowler's standing in his path.

He shook his head and laughed loudly, "Well, now. If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!" He got back up on his feet and raised both his arms up. Another gust of wind, this one stronger than the last, appeared and formed a barrier around him. His left eye gleamed mischievously as he smirked at his enemies, "I hope you checked the forecast, because there's going to be a storm coming to town, and you guys are the ones who will be going sky-high!"

As one, both he and the Endless charged forth, both sides eager to fight.

* * *

><p>A mother and her daughter cried out as a Grim Endless walked slowly up to them. It was smiling fiendishly. It was savouring the moment of their fear before it would kill them. It wanted their deaths to be as slow and agonizing as possible. It brought a clawed hand up, earning a responsive scream from the girl.<p>

Before it could bring its hand down, something slammed onto the side of its face. It felt heavy and craggy, like a rock, and hurt like hell. It flew from the crushing blow and crashed through the wall. It stirred for a moment before the now unstable the wall collapsed and buried the creature in several hundred pounds of concrete. There was no chance for it to have survived that, and the attacker was relieved to see the dark mist seeping through the cracks of the fallen debris.

The little girl and mother looked up to see the attacker and saw Brennan with one of his hands encased in stone. He had pieces of rock floating around his body in the form of small shields. The rocks moved slightly away as he extended his hand out to the woman. "It's okay." He spoke softly, "You're safe now."

The mother didn't want to trust him after seeing what he did, but the little girl beat her to it and placed her hand on his. He gently lifted her up and then the mother up to their feet. They both bowed to him slightly. "Thank you so much." the mother said.

The teen nodded his head just as Amanda arrived with the last few people by her side. She told them all to evacuate the building and lead them to the stairwell.

When it just the two of them left, they climbed up to the fifth floor and escorted anybody left behind out with minimal resistance. After they finished, they proceeded down to the third floor. Brennan opened the door and immediately they saw a group of people being attacked by several Prowlers.

The psychic lifted a nearby shelf and threw it at some of the Endless that were bunched together while Brennan shot fist-shaped boulders at them. The shelf slammed down on two of the Prowlers, encasing them in wood and assorted beverages while the rocks hit them with a force equal to that of a truck. The Endless soon became overwhelmed by the combined powers and fell.

Brennan walked up to the window and quickly formed a slide out of rock that led to the ground. The people glanced at him and then at the slide nervously before Amanda spoke, "Don't worry. You're all going to be okay." She waved her hand at the closest person and ushered for him to move, "Hurry and get down! There's no telling how many more will show up!"

Panicking at seeing more of the creatures, they quickly went down the slide one by one and safely stood by everyone else. When the last one went down, Brennan returned the earth back to where it formerly was and turned around just in time to avoid being hit by a slippery appendage. He looked up and identified the attacker.

It looked similar in appearance to the Grim's, but it was taller and thinner. Its arms and legs were bent backwards and clutched onto the ceiling, keeping it suspended above them. Its hollowed eyes gleamed hungrily at them as it's tongue returned back to its mouth and flicked around. The same symbol that was on its brethren was on both its chest and its tongue. More of the strange creatures showed up as they dropped down from their hiding place and stood up straight. At full height, they were about six feet tall.

"Lickers." Brennan said as the same one that attacked him lashed out at him with its tongue. He moved out of the way and grabbed the tongue, then pulled it and slammed the Endless with a stone fist as it came close. Amanda picked up a couple more with her powers and threw them at the rest.

She stood by Brennan's side as more Lickers showed up. "This is going from bad to worse." She complained, "And all I wanted to do was go shopping."

"Maybe you might get a discount for getting the Endless out of the store?" Brennan joked.

Amanda chuckled, "You might be right. Maybe they might give me that dress for free, too."

The two friends chuckled as they both prepared for battle.

* * *

><p>David stood in triumph as the Brute finally succumbed to its injuries and collapsed. He had miscalculated a lightning bolt that would have destroyed the Endless' cerebral cortex and instead triggered its primal instincts. Because of that, the fight had taken much longer than it originally was supposed to be. Despite that, he did managed to acquire some useful data about the Endless, and that was enough to make up for it.<p>

He turned around, half-expecting for some more Endless to show up, the other half wishing that he left this backwater planet as soon as possible. So what if the Endless took over this world? Big deal. There's nothing special about it. It was nothing more than a planet filled with weak-minded creatures and idiotic humans who relied on them. Nothing whatsoever.

_Well… nothing but her._ He recalled the event earlier when he met Yellow. He had detected an unknown energy source that was inside of her body as well as hints of what her powers were from one of his earlier scans of her. It was rather intriguing that a small and naïve child such as her could possess such an extraordinary power. Oh, how he would love to delve into her subconscious and learn about her past, or take a sample of her DNA and scan its genetic compounds to find the source of the power. But, as always, Logan had to ruin his fun.

"No matter." He said to himself, "I'll just simply have to find a way to get the necessary data I need from Yellow Caballero myself. I always find a way."

He took a few more steps before a familiar roar rang out against his ears. He looked back and saw three more Brutes standing where the last one had fallen. They roared almost simultaneously at the robot and charged.

David stood his ground as the mechanisms within his arms came to life. Soon, they split into four separate ones, each one as identical as the last. He stood straight and pulled out an energy sword while the other three hands surged with electricity. He laughed maniacally as the three Brutes drew closer to him. "Insolent creatures." He pointed the three arms at them as the electricity grew stronger, "Let us see what happens when I apply a little shock therapy to your feeble minds!"

An explosion rang out as a fierce battle between beast and machine began.

* * *

><p>Logan pulled his sword out from the Prowler's head as he kicked another Grim in the stomach from behind. They were only about a few metres away from the exit and the Endless were making every effort to stop them. He could feel himself growing tired as the headache returned, telling him that more were on the way. He could hear Red shouting out in frustration as his Pika electrocuted three more Grims.<p>

"How many more are there?" He complained before telling Poli to freeze another oncoming Prowler in place. "It feels like we're in the middle of a Beedrill's nest!"

"There has to be an end to all this!" Green agreed before avoiding another Licker's tongue. "They can't all be coming at us at once!"

Saria blocked another Grim's attack before pushing it back and blasting it with energy, "There is! We just need to find the leader and take it out! The rest should follow!"

"So where is this leader?" Blue looked away for a second from her Granbull biting down on a helpless Grim's head and shaking it around to face her.

"Doesn't matter." Logan answered as he headbutted a Grim hard, "All that matters is getting out of here! We're almost at the stairwell!" After he finished saying that, he grabbed the closest Grim and threw it at a large group of Endless as if it was a bowling ball. He wasn't going to leave anyone behind. No one.

Leira clutched the bag in her hands tightly as she stayed by Yellow's side. She would be applauding the Viridian Girl for taking out a couple of Prowler's with her Omastar if she wasn't being scared by everything around her. All the screaming, the chaos; it was too much for her to handle. She wanted to go back home with Papa and forget that this had ever happened, like everything else that happened before.

She suddenly tripped over a broken shelf board and fell to the ground. The second she hit the ground, a Pokéball came out of her pouch and started rolling away. She saw it and quickly dropped the bag before running after it, not noticing that it was leading her away from the group. "Come back, Absy!" She called out her Pokémon's name.

Yellow heard her first and immediately ran after her with Omny and Chuchu beside her. "Leira! Stop! It's too dangerous!" She shouted.

The girl did stop moments later, beside a set of windows that overlooked the city. She picked up the Pokéball and hugged it close to her chest, crying, "Absy! Oh, I'm so sorry!" She apologized, "I'm such a horrible person! I should have left you and the others back home where it's safe!" She saw the Pokémon inside shaking its head as it spoke to her. She understood it and wiped her tears off her face, "Easy for you to say. You're not the one who has a responsibility to take care of three different Pokémon! I thought that I was going to lose you!" The Pokémon spoke again as it gave her a sincere look. She smiled as she hugged the ball to her cheek, "You're right. I am being silly, but I just can't help it. I promise I'll make it up to you somehow."

She heard footsteps coming from behind her and saw Yellow running to her with two of her Pokémon by her side. She kept Absy in her hands and stood up, "Look, Oneesan! I got Absy!"

"That's good, Leira," She knelt down and placed her hands on the child's shoulders, "Listen, I know you were trying to help your friend, and I'm really happy that you did, but it's too dangerous for you to run off like that, especially when there are those… things running around." She saw the girl looking down at her feet sadly before continuing, "Logan must be worried sick about you by now. Come on. Let's go back to the others and-"

She was interrupted when she heard Leira gasping in shock. Her eyes were wide with fear and she was breathing rapidly. Yellow wasn't sure what was wrong, until she felt the dreadful feeling that they were being watched. She quickly turned around to face whoever it was that was behind them…

…and saw something that made her freeze in shock.

Standing there, gazing at them through an armoured helm, were a faint pair of glowing, red eyes. The thing looked like a human and wore sinister looking amour that covered every square-inch of its body. Spikes jetted out of its knees, elbows and shoulders and its gauntlets glowed with dark energy. The weapon it carried was unlike anything she had ever seen before. It was almost like a futuristic sword that was just as big as it was, with a black steel colour and red symbols and lines across it. It had one razor edge instead of two that glowed crimson. A familiar red symbol was on its chestplate. It snarled at them as its eyes flashed and lifted its weapon high up in the air.

Yellow was about ready to tell Chuchu to unleash a Thunderbolt at it before the creature brought its sword down to the ground. The impact created several large cracks across the ground that started to spread across the floor, showing no signs of stopping even when they began to climb the walls. When they connected at the ceiling, the cracks began to glow till they eventually detonated. Yellow realized what it was doing and grabbed Leira's arm. She tried to make a break for it, but the Endless created a wall of fire around them, preventing them from escaping. She could hear its sadistic voice inside of her head. It was sickening to listen to.

_-Death awaitsss you, humansss…- _It said before pulling its weapon out of the ground.

Parts of the ground broke loose and fell to the floor below as the building began to fall apart. Yellow covered Leira protectively as pieces of concrete fell on top of them. The creature laughed once more before it vanished, letting her see the others fighting against the other Endless, oblivious to what was happening.

Leira could feel her fear growing drastically. She couldn't hold it back anymore as memories of past horrors returned. It was too much for her and she screamed at the top of her lungs.

The scream pierced into everyone's minds, and the familiarity of the scream brought much fear and shock to Logan that it caused him to completely ignore the Endless and search for Leira. When he did see her and Yellow behind the wall of fire and the building falling apart, he ran straight for them. Red saw this happening as well and felt his fears coming true as he ran with Logan to their friends.

"YELLOW!" "LEIRA!" They both shouted simultaneously.

Feeling his rage take over, Logan wasted no time in chopping several Endless in pieces and ploughing through everything else that stood in his way, "Hold on, Leira! I'm coming!" They could hear them shouting as the building finally gave way and began to fall to the ground, along with them.

He was only a few feet away from the fire before the same armoured Endless from before appeared beside him and hit him with a flying drop kick. The blow sent him staggering back a few feet, but he shook away the pain as if it was nothing. He saw Red jumping throught the fire and a white light after that, knowing full well that he'd be able to save Yellow and Leira. With that thought in mind, he growled threateningly at the armoured Endless.

His left eye changed from golden-yellow to pure white as symbols appeared all around his body, also glowing in white. He screamed at the Endless before charging at it with both swords ablaze in fire. His shout echoed across the entire building as a surge of uncontrollable power erupted from him.

_GRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH HHHHHHHHHHH!_

* * *

><p>"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Leira screamed as she fell along with Yellow to the ground below. She held Absy's Pokéball close to her, fearful that she might drop it, as the earth moved closer and closer to her at a rapid pace. Tears streamed down her eyes as she tried to look away, screaming at the same time.<p>

Yellow had called back her Pokémon the moment the building broke loose and heard the small child screaming. Instinctively, she brought both arms to her side like a human torpedo and fell even faster to Leira. She grabbed her when she was close enough and brought her closer to her, letting her cry on her chest.

She needed to think of a plan before they hit the bottom. She couldn't send out Kitty without putting him in danger of the falling concrete all around them, plus he wouldn't be strong enough to lift them. None of her other Pokémon would be of much help either. It was times like this that Yellow deeply wished that she had an actual flying Pokémon, one that was just as big as Red's Aero or Green's Charizard.

"YELLOW!" a strikingly familiar voice broke through her train of thought.

She looked up and saw Red falling down at them using the same method she used. When he was close enough, he wrapped his arms around both girls and called out, "Aero, NOW!"

Remembering the Pokémon's name, Yellow looked behind him just in time to see two grey wings emerging from his back. She turned her head around and saw that they were almost at the bottom. Expecting the worse to happen, she closed her eyes and held Leira even tighter.

It never came. She opened her eyes and saw the ground just a few feet away from her face. She looked up again and saw the Aerodactyl hovering in the air, its feet clutching tightly on Red's shirt as he held both of them close. They hovered above the ground for a few seconds before she felt herself being propelled high up into the sky. Aero swerved and moved away from the falling concrete, careful to not lose its grip, until the last one was gone. When they were high enough, Aero hovered in place again, letting the three humans look down at the ground.

There was a large amount of people gathered at a safe distance from the Department Store. They saw their friends leaving the store with a few Grims behind them, but were easily dealt with. They could even see Lady Erika standing amongst the crowd looking up at them.

Red sighed in relief, "That was a little too close." He said shakily. His head was clouded with so many thoughts about what could happen if he didn't make it in time, it started to make his vision blur. Thankfully, he pushed away all those thoughts as he looked down at the one girl who always made his heart skip a beat in his arms.

Yellow laughed inwardly as she replied, "Another second and we would have ended up as pancakes." She felt the small child move around in her arms as she cried quieter than she did before. She brought a hand up to her raven hair and gently brushed it, reassuring the child, as she smiled at her friend, "Thanks Red."

"No problem." He returned the smile.

The Aerodactyl flew down until they were above the ground and let go of its master. The trainers landed on their feet and were soon rejoined by the others, who each had looked as if they went through just about the same thing they did. Blue and Amanda rushed over to them and hugged them, telling them that they were glad that they were okay. Red looked back at his Pokémon and thanked it before returning it back to its Pokéball.

Brennan looked around the ground and noticed one missing from their number "Guys, where's Logan?"

At the mention of his name, everyone looked back at the building, wondering what was taking him so long. From up on the fourth floor, they could see fire burning alongside the window stills. Leira, who was even more worried for her papa, let go of Yellow and moved closer to the building.

"Papa?" She said to herself.

_GRRRRAAAAHHHH!_

The moment the scream occurred, the fifth floor of the Department Store exploded. Windows broke apart and flew in several different directions while parts of the building collapsed on one another. As they all watched, they saw two figures in the middle of a deadlock bursting out and falling along with the debris. Though it was hard to see who they were at first, there was no mistaking the pulsing white lines that covered one of them. Saria was the first to realize who it was and shout out the person's name.

"LOGAN!"

* * *

><p>He had no idea what he was thinking. Answer, he didn't. His mind was so overcome with anger and hatred towards the Endless for trying to hurt Leira that he was simply acting out on instinct and not thinking clearly. So the moment he set the floor on fire and sent them both falling to their deaths was the moment when Logan realized that maybe he went a little too far.<p>

But right now, as his dual scimitars were caught in a fierce deadlock with the armoured Endless' giant sword, only one thought crossed his mind as his rage began to escalate;

This son of a bitch was going to die for trying to kill Leira.

He roared out in anger as he shoved the Endless away from him and proceeded to slash at it. The Endless retaliated in time and parried each and every one of his attacks. He decided to press on and unleashed several air slashes at it. Again, it parried all of them. Now he was getting annoyed. He charged once more and swung his left sword for the creature's chest and the other for its head. Amazingly, it parried both attacks and began to relentlessly attack him with a barrage of swift, yet powerful strikes.

Logan swung his swords against the Endless' attacks to counter them. A shower of sparks appeared each time the swords parried one another. As they continued fighting, their swords clashed against one another faster with each passing second until they were nothing but a blur, sparks raining all around them. They blocked their attacks once more before pushing each other away from them.

A chorus of screams rang out from above. Logan looked up and saw several dozen Grims and Prowlers leaping off of the roof and falling straight for him, claws extending out. He heard the armoured Endless laughing before it disappeared. The ground was just upon him now and he quickly turned around and landed on his feet. The ground shook when he landed and formed a small crater around him.

His eyes flashed as both his swords vanished in his hands and were replaced with a pair of handguns. He pointed the guns up and fired. A shower of bullets headed straight for the Endless as they each began to drop like flies. Their bodies hit the ground before fading away. As everyone watched in horror and wonder, Logan fired more bullets at the swarm, never missing a single shot as the bullets punctured through their skulls. He pulled the trigger once more and unleashed two massive charged shots high up in the air. They collided with one another in between the surviving Endless and exploded, catching all of them in its deadly inferno blast.

Nobody said a word or did anything as Logan holstered his guns and took a few steps away from the crater. He stumbled a few times and gripped his left arm. It was obvious that the fight took a lot out of him. He saw Leira with the others quickly ran over to her side. He knelt down in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders, his worry evident in his voice;

"Leira! Are you alright? You're not hurt or anything?"

His response was a quiet no from the small girl as tears began to stream down her face again. She took him by surprise and wrapped her arms around his chest, wailing loudly. He felt his guilt take over and immediately hugged the poor girl gently in his arms, hushing to her softly and rubbing the back of her head. He could hear her voice through her choked sobbing as she tried to wipe away her tears.

"I…_ (Crying)_… I was so scared… Papa…_ (Crying)_… I-I thought… I thought I was going to…_ (Crying)_…" She refused to say anything else. It was all too much for her. She cried even than she ever did before. Even though they were at a very good distance away from Logan, everyone could still feel her sadness. "I… I want to go home… _(Crying)_… Papa… _(Sobbing)_… I want to go home… and forget…_ (Crying)_… all of this… I just… _(Crying)_… wanna go… h-home…"

He rocked her lightly in his arms as he whispered softly to her ears, "It's okay. It's okay, Papa's here. Shh. It's alright. It's alright. Shh." He kept going for a few more moments until he heard the child calming down. "It's alright now, Leira. You're safe now. The Endless won't get you. Shh. It's okay. It's okay."

He kept telling her the same thing over and over again until he no longer heard her crying. He let go of the girl as if she was fragile and placed his shadowed hand on her shoulder again, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "It's alright, Leira. You don't have to cry anymore. You're safe." He moved his gaze away from her and up to the Viridian Girl, who had removed her hat and looked down at them sadly. He mouthed a thank you to her (even though it was hard for her to notice since he lacked a _visible_ mouth) before looking back at Leira. "Come on, sweetie. We're going home."

"_(Sniff)_… O-Okay…" She said.

Unfortunately, the moment of peace did not last long as a Grim burst out of the ground behind them, screaming at the top of its lungs. It lunged at the Vanguard, eyes glowing with malice and claws ready…

…and was caught almost immediately by Logan.

Many people looked away or stepped back a few more steps as they heard the Grim screaming before Logan crushed its head in his hand. The black blood exploded upon his hand, coating it with its foul stench and the now headless body slumped to the ground.

Upon reaction to the Endless' death, twenty more Grims' burst out of the ground, slowly lifting themselves out of the ground like zombies. Yellow didn't need to think twice when she saw the symbols on Logan's body glowing again and grabbed Leira's hand. She quickly moved away from him with Red by her side and joined up with the others, who were fairly close to him in case he needed some assistance.

Logan, however, had other plans. He looked at Amanda, his left eye shifting between yellow and white as his rage continued to escalate, "Form a barrier and seal me and the Endless in it!" Her worried face only made him more agitated and he barked at her, "Now, Amanda!"

"I can't!" She argued back, "If I do that, then there's no way for us t–"

"I am well aware of that! Just do it!"

Sighing in defeat, Amanda brought both her hands and summoned a large barrier that circled around Logan and the Endless. Now that the force field was up, there was no way for them to help him when the situation called it. _But this is just like every other time. _She thought, _He always manages to win in the end, even without our help._

The trainers now watched in high anticipation as the symbols completely covered Logan's body once again. The Endless stared at him for a few seconds before they all charged at him.

"You call yourselves the Hunters of the Dark," Logan spoke out each word slowly and aggressively, as if each word was poisonous, "Destroyers of the Light, Bringers of Chaos, and Servants of the Dark Lord." The Endless drew even closer, "But in reality…" The creatures were right upon him as they all lunged at him at once. His hand immediately found the hilt of his dagger and he pulled it out in a reverse grip*, shouting at the top of his lungs, "You are nothing more than cowards who hide in shadows!"

It all happened so fast. In less than a second, a massive shockwave erupted from him and knocked all the Endless away from him. He sprinted to the closest one and swung the dagger straight into the side of its neck. It spat and gurgled as it clawed at Logan to let it go, but the robotic arm merely absorbed its attacks. The other Endless were momentarily stunned, as well as everyone else, when they heard Logan speaking again;

"You are nothing but monsters. Demons who thirst on fear and the hearts of the living." The Grim gurgled again as it tried to pry the dagger out of its neck, but with no luck, "If fear is what you are looking for, then you have found it," He looked at them with both eyes burning like infernos, "For I am fear incarnate!"

And with that, he swung the dagger and sliced the Grim's neck in half. The blood followed the dagger's path as the Endless spun in place. It collapsed to the ground, blood leaking out of its wound, until it vanished. The other Endless saw their comrade fall and immediately lashed out.

His eyes flashed again as he crouched down, dagger held, "BUSHIDO!"

Time began to slow down as Logan vanished in the blink of an eye and slashed at each and every Endless with swift and deadly strikes. Gashes spread across their entire bodies every time Logan went by and their blood poured out like fountains. Their bodies fell to the ground, completely lifeless, as Logan reappeared where he was standing.

To everyone who watched all this happening, it was about three seconds that he vanished and just suddenly appeared with every Endless around him dead, but to him, it was an eternity. He could feel his dagger cutting through each and every single bone in an Endless' body. He could feel their blood against the dagger's stainless steel edge as his own screams of rage echoed in his mind. He could feel his own strength growing stronger with each kill, and it only made him want to go further. How dare they try to hurt his friends? How dare they try to kill innocent people? How dare they try to kill Leira?! His Leira! They would pay dearly for trying to harm her! Of that he would be certain.

A portal appeared in front of him and revealed the armoured Endless once more. It lifted its hand up and summoned a dark orb in the middle of its palm. Soon, the orb exploded into dozens of smaller ones and traveled around the creature before going to different parts of the area. After floating for a moment, they turned into portals, each one unleashing vast amounts of dark energy.

Then, as Yellow watched in horror, '_They_'appeared. All at once, Endless began to pour out of the portals, a chorus of screams uttered from their serrated jaws. Soon, hundreds of Endless, ranging from Grims to Brutes, surrounded Logan, all of them staring at him hungry eyes. More Endless appeared out of the portals, except Yellow noticed that they were a new type, and they were flying. These Endless had more skin and muscle than their skeletal counterparts, but were still about the same height as them. They had three spikes on their heads, as well as the traditional spikes along the spine, and a tail. But what was really impressive about them were the large bat wings they had. They were probably twice the width of their arms. They hovered in place above their fellow Endless and glared back at Logan, waiting for the moment to strike.

The armoured one laughed manically as it pointed its sword at him before speaking. It was clear from its tone that it was being confident in its statement.

_-You are a fool to think you can take usss all on, Hero…-_

Logan's face began to change as a serrated line appeared across his face. He opened the new mouth and roared intimidatingly at the Endless, his left eye and entire body now changing from white to crimson. The bandages around his body started to burn away and revealed to everyone the three large gashes that were on his chest and the similarly shaped symbol on his necklace tattooed on his back, also glowing in blood red. He set himself in a fighting stance, his left arm coated in fire and aimed at the armoured Endless, the other arm holding the dagger tightly and aiming it at the Endless.

_Yeah I'm slashin', fighting through the fire!_

_Yeah I'm slashin', fighting through the fire!_

_Yeah I'm slashin', fighting for the power!_

_Power!_

"You are the greater fools for choosing to fight me!" Logan shouted as his eyes flashed again, "I will make sure that Celadon City will be your grave!"

_To Be Continued…_

* * *

><p><strong>(I simply love the fact that I added a <em>To Be Continued... <em>message at the end. It's like a T.V. show that has two episodes that act as a continuation. Makes it a bit more tense or dramatic, I think. The thing about Logan's eyes flashing is that that means that he is either about to perform a very powerful and devastating attack, or is very, VERY pissed off at the person who made him angry. Example? The armoured Endless.**

**Also, whenver a * symbol appears, I will add an explanation of each one here at the end of the chapter so you guys know what each one is. I will also explain any songs or music that I add onto the story and my thoughts on why I chose to add them.**

1) Naginata: A Japanese weapon composed of a long pole with a curved blade at the end.

2) Reverse Grip: Holding a weapon in a reverse position; blade is pointing away from enemy.

**The song I chose is called Though the Fire by Crush 40. I chose it because, out of all the songs I have on my iPod that would seem to fit the situation where Logan is enraged, this song tops them all by a long shot. You can literally feel the rage and tension building up for the person experiencing it, and the lyrics also add into it, too. The song is actually foreshadowed, as it will appear again in the next chapter, but this time the full version of it will be on it. Until then, I hope you have enjoyed the latest chapter of Revenant's Tale: Orange Blossoms.**

**_PS:_ I have actually finished a mini side-story about a year ago that is a possible LoganxAmanda pairing. It was a random idea I had back then and I was actually thinking about whether or not I should add it onto the site. Before I actually think of doing that, I need to edit the crap out of it. There are a lot of mistakes that I made now that I have a good idea about what my OC's look like. I swear they keep changing every single day. And, I will warn you, it does contain spoilers of a future event that will happen. But it doesn't happen in this story, thankfully, so that's the good news. So if you guys want me to post it, let me know and I will happily post it.**


	10. BaCC II: Wrath of A Vanguard

**(A/N: This story is Rated T, however this chapter alone is of higher rating within the T section due to the violence. Just letting you all know.)**

**EDIT: Fix some of the errors that I've found in the later parts of this chapter. I will most likely go over this whole thing and fix anymore when given the time.**

**EDIT 2: I had completely forgotten that Chuchu doesn't even know Thunder. Changed it to ThunderShock since the other two were Fly and Volt Tackle. Also fixed some more mistakes I found.**

****EDIT 3: I have noticed many errors while looking back at this entire story, so I have decided to fix them all and put in the new updated versions.****

****EDIT 4:******** For some reason, this chapter just hates me. This is, what, the fourth time I came back to it and I'm still seeing a lot of errors every time I look at it! Jeez! Anyway, I limited the amounted of punches that Logan uses on Reaver, as well as changed _PUNCH! _into _BAM!_ considering that that is the proper word to describe a hard punch, as well as changed some parts of the chapter around to make them less tedious then they were before. Sorry that I keep updating this part everyone.****

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 9: Battle at Celadon City Part II: The Vanguard's Wrath<span>**

_Rage is like a poison. It consumes all other emotions; happiness, sadness, joy, excitement, and turns it all into rage. It gives the person who is experiencing it an excuse as to why they are feeling this way, a reason to kill. It not only destroys relationships with others, but also destroys lives… including the person experiencing it. Slowly and painfully. – Shadow-War_

* * *

><p>Yellow stood where she was, frozen in sheer shock as both Logan and the Endless stared down at one another, waiting for either of them to strike first. She looked at Logan again, trying her best to not believe what she was seeing. The serrated jaw, the blood red eye and symbols, the scars, it just couldn't be him. The Logan she met before was nice and caring, not to mention honest. There was no way that this was the same Logan. It just couldn't be!<p>

"Shit." She heard Brady swore, "They are so screwed."

Yellow was confused by what he meant and looked at him, "You knew about this?" She shook her head, realizing that that was not a proper question to ask for this kind of situation. She asked the teen again, but this time more demanding, "No. No, this can't be happening. What is going on?! Why is Logan acting like this? And why aren't we helping him?!"

"Trust me, Yellow. You don't want to know." Brennan answered.

"I _do_ want to know. He's my friend, too." She realized what she just said and quickly corrected herself, "He's _our _friend. And I think we all need to know why he's acting like some crazed Gyrados!"

She heard David laughing nearby, "A Gyrados? Please. That overgrown seafood can't even compare to the rage that Logan is experiencing right now."

"What are you saying?' Red asked him.

Saria could feel the tension beginning to build up and interrupted them. She was not about to have another fight happening in the middle of one. "Out of all of us, Logan is the only one who experiences an extreme amount of rage when a specific nerve or impulse has been triggered. This enables him to undergo a transformation that makes him stronger and faster than he was before, but more violent and ruthless in the process. We have come to call this new form as 'Rage Form'."

"So how does he go into this 'Rage Form'?" Green questioned her. "Does he do it freely or by other means?"

She shook her head, "No. It is never done freely. In fact, he cannot even control it. The Rage Form happens almost instantly whenever Logan is experiencing anger or despair."

Yellow quickly caught on to what she meant. "Leira." When she saw everyone looking at her, she explained, "Logan was furious because that thing tried to kill us. And now that it's here, with the rest of those things…"

"He wants revenge." Red finished as his voice droned down to a whisper. Brady was right. The Endless were screwed. He had seen Logan act out violently against the Endless last night, but exacting revenge against one that tried to kill an innocent child? That would definitely piss anybody off.

"But since Logan told Amanda to make that force field, there's no way for us to help him when he needs it, is there?" Blue asked the Vanguard girl, who answered with a sorrowful nod.

"Then why should we listen to what he says?" Red demanded. "If he ends up getting in a bind, we have to help him! We can't just let him fight against all those things by himself!"

Brady walked up to him and spoke, "Spiky, let me let you in on a little secret." He pointed at Logan, "Logan has the grace and power of a monster truck fuelled by pure, distilled rage. That alone is enough to make anybody run for the hills." He then pointed at the dagger, "That dagger… makes him even worse. Why? Because out of all the weapons he has at his disposal, that dagger is the only one that he can use without fail and can do all those fancy tricks with it. You might say he's a master with it than those swords that he has. And if you mix that with a terrible temper that's a hundred times worse than even the most aggressive Pokémon you have on this world, then you got one mean, destructive, merciless, ruthless son of a bitch."

"So he's basically a time bomb waiting to explode?" Green said. He received several nods of confirmation from the others. He reached up to his forehead and rubbed his temple. This was starting to get out of hand. "He's either really stupid or really serious if he wants to fight against all of them."

_-KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLL LLLL!-_ A mental scream shouted out, completely catching everyone's attention.

They turned around just in time to see the Endless at the very front of the swarm charging at Logan, showing no signs of stopping. Logan, on the hand, remained where he was, both his eyes shut tight and his hand still gripping onto the dagger.

Questions appeared within Yellow's mind when she saw this. What is he doing? Why isn't he attacking? Is he really trying to get himself killed? Or is this a part of his strategy? She shook her head violently at the thought. No. There was no way that this was a part of a strategy. If it was, it would probably be the worse one she had ever seen. He was practically a sitting duck out there, and they couldn't do anything to help him. She ran to the barrier and started to pound against it, her straw hat falling off of her head when she did this. She saw Red was doing the same thing and trying to break through it to help their friend, but it was to no avail. She shouted at him to do something, but he didn't. He stayed there, eyes closed, as the Endless were now right upon him.

She couldn't take it anymore and shouted at the top of her lungs, "LOGAN, GET OUT OF THERE!"

The Vanguard's eyes flew open and a wicked smile curved across his face.

_It's time…_

_Yeah I'm slashin' right through the fire!_

_Yeah I'm slashin' might through the fire!_

_Yeah I'm slashin' fighting for the power!_

In less than a second, all of the attacking Endless were sliced into pieces as if they were nothing but confetti. Black blood seeped from their wounds and stained the pavement and grass. Some of it even hit the barrier where Yellow was, making her jump back in shock. Logan looked up just in time to see five Grims advancing. His eyes flashed before he bent down and shifted all of his weight onto his hand. Right as they were upon him, he propelled himself over them and landed behind them. With their backs now turned, he wasted no time and slashed at their backs with one fell swipe. As they fell to the ground, he grabbed a Prowler that tried to attack him from the side and snapped its neck with the movement of his thumb. He threw the body away as if it was nothing but trash and slowly advanced towards the armoured Endless.

He lifted his hand up and motioned at them in a taunting manner, "Come on!"

More Endless roared out and charged at him, but just like the others, they were quickly dealt with as Logan merely stabbed many of them in the eye or the head, or slashed them across the chest. Some of the aerial ones tried to swoop down and attack, but they were immediately shot out of the sky by concentrated streams of fire.

Logan smiled through his jagged teeth as he grabbed two Grims by their heads and slammed them against one another. Their heads exploded upon contact and slumped to the ground, causing many people, including Brady and Green, to look away. He laughed loudly as he continued advancing, "Is that the best that you can do?" He twirled the dagger in the air and caught it by the hilt perfectly in his hand before stabbing a Licker right in the eye, "I'm just getting started!"

_Better fear me, better run away!_

Yellow was now watching in complete horror as she saw Logan impale his right hand through a Grim's chest and crushed another's head in his palm. He retracted both arms and begins to snap more of the Endless' necks.

This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't. It was like watching a horror movie that wouldn't stop. She didn't know much about Logan other than the fact that he was kind and helpful, but now that she was looking at this side of him, she couldn't help but cover her mouth to keep herself from vomiting. How could anybody a person as kind as him turn into a raging monster?

She noticed Blue moving closer to Green as her face was contorted in shock. Green's face was also showing the same emotion, something that Yellow rarely, if never, had seen since she first met him. Red was trying his best to look away from the merciless combat. The others? Saria was keeping Leira from seeing the whole thing as Brennan and Amanda looked away. Brady and David, on the other hand, were watching as if they expecting something amusing to happen. It was mostly David who did that. She felt sick to the stomach. How could he even think of such a way? This wasn't even a fight at all.

It was a massacre.

_'Cause this battle's just begun!_

The fight continued on and already a quarter of the Endless had fallen by Logan's hand. The armoured Endless could feel its temper rising as it pointed at Logan.

_-What are you waiting for, you idiotsss? Kill him! Before I, Reaver, kill all of you!-_

Logan smirked. So that's what its name was. Reaver. He would have to make sure to carve it onto its tombstone when this was over. He spun the dagger in his hand several times before he returned it to its sheath. He brought his fist to an open palm and started to crack his knuckles, while at the same time cracking his neck nonchalantly. He walked closer to the horde and did the same hand motion as before.

"Let's make this a little fair, shall we?" He said gleefully. It was complete unnerving to hear that kind of tone from an enraged Logan. It sounded too scary.

The Endless, unfortunately, had other thoughts and immediately charged at him. They all appeared around him, trapping him in so he wouldn't escape. Yet this didn't bother him at the slightest. In fact, if anything, it made him smirk even more.

With speed that could top even a Ninjask's, he punched and kicked each and every Endless away from him. Hard. In fact, they were so hard that Yellow could practically hear it. The bones inside of the Endless were either being shattered to pieces or turned to dust every time Logan's fist connected with them. Some of his hits were so powerful that the Endless just exploded into black mist, leaving nothing behind. She soon saw him grab a nearby Brute and drove its head straight to the ground before he did a fatal one inch punch that completely obliterated its skull.

_Enchanted whisper in your evil ear_

What happened next was truly a marvel. As he was running towards the horde, Logan punched his palm and punched five Grims that were all lined up one after the other across their heads, then grabbed two Prowlers by the tails and swung them around like baseball bats. Logan kept swinging them even after they were long dead and threw their bodies at a Brute, then lifted the large Endless and used it as a battering ram to charge straight into the heart of the swarm. If there was ever a contest to see who the most ruthless fighter was, Logan would surely win it by a landslide.

It didn't stop there. Right after he tossed the Brute aside, he stopped in place and brought his robotic hand back. Twin spirals of fire appeared around his arm as he brought his hand down and struck the earth. The fire surged out of his arm and inside of the earth. Within a few moments, the pavement and dirt exploded all around him and dozens of fiery pillars sprouted from the ground, incinerating any Endless caught in their radius. One Prowler was lucky enough to avoid the fire pillar that appeared beside it and charged at Logan. It was about to slash at the Vanguard before one of his hands reached out and grabbed it by the neck. An orange light began to appear within his maw and soon, he breathed out a stream of fire at it, scorching it entirely till it was nothing but ashes. He flicked his hand to get rid of any remaining ashes that still clung to him and breathed out the fire once more, this time to the sky, making him look even more intimidating.

_Can you hear the words I won… I won, I won!_

Everyone was too busy watching the fight to notice that some of the Grims and Prowlers were tunnelling into the ground and heading straight for them. It wasn't until Brennan, who sensed their approach, stomped the ground and forced one out before he punched it straight to the sky. By now, everyone started to panic as more and more of them emerge from the depths.

One Grim managed to get underneath Blue and looked up at her, but what it didn't know was that from the position it was at, it had a clear view of looking up at her skirt. Blue saw this and her face immediately flushed in crimson. She screamed at the top of her lungs, "PERVERT!"

She stomped her foot down, very hard, which earned her a sickening crunch where her foot struck its temple and sent it back down the hole. In her shock, Blasty came by her side and pointed one of its cannons at the hole before unleashing a torrent of water. The Grim and all the other Endless that were in it were sent back inside the barrier, the water sending them skyrocketing to the sky before they crashed into the ground. Blue clutched her skirt and brought it down in an attempt to cover herself, "Stupid Endless! That's what you get for looking up my skirt, you creep!"

Both Blasty and Green sweat dropped. She can definitely be scary when the right nerve was poked at.

* * *

><p>Yellow and Red were doing okay on their part. Whenever an Endless crawled out of one of the holes, they were immediately struck by lightning from Pika or Chuchu and either evaporated into mists of darkness or fell back down the hole. Had this been a different situation, they would have actually admitted that it was fun fighting side-by-side with one another. But this wasn't one such situation. Everyone's life was in danger, and they would make sure that they would all get out of this safely.<p>

Red turned around just in time to see a Prowler running at Yellow with her back turned on it. She heard it roaring and turned around just in time to see Red tackling it away from her, then telling Pika to hit it with a Thunderbolt before it had the chance to pick itself up. He turned around to face her and smiled. She returned it with her own and thanked him.

They both looked around to see how the others were doing. Green and David were fending off a rather large group of Grim's and watched as Scizor countered one of them with a Metal Claw while David unleashed a massive surge of electricity from both his arms. Saria had Leira in one arm and fended off a Prowler with her weapon in the other with no problems while Blue and Amanda dealing with any others that were around them with a mixture of water and psychic attacks. Brennan and Brady, on the other hand, were currently fighting against a horde that was even bigger than everyone else's combined. Brady was sending Endless after Endless into the sky with his wind powers while Brennan send several boulders at the rest. He then jumped into the air and slammed his fist to the ground, creating a shockwave that caused the earth to break apart underneath the Endless and crush them in-between them. It seemed like they were having more problems than the others, since the majority of the holes the Endless came out of were right beside them.

Yellow saw Brady punting a Licker away from him before throwing another over his shoulder, all the while hearing him shout out his frustration. "I am getting sick and tired of these assholes!" He was most certainly loud, that was for sure. She could hear him over all of the Endless. "Every time we kill one, more just take its place!" He ducked from a Prowler's attack and roundhouse kicked it away from him, "Logan better get rid of that armoured freakazoid soon if he knows what's good for him!"

Brennan slammed his arms against one another and watched as the earth began to shift and seal each hole that the Endless were coming out of. He didn't need to reply to Brady's argument, since he was right. As long as the Endless in the armour was still alive, there would be no end to this.

He felt the ground shift underneath him and looked just in time to see the pavement explode nearby and a large, gaping hole in its place. Within moments, dozens upon dozens of Endless began to pour out. He tapped Brady on the shoulder and motioned for him to see what was going on. He groaned beneath his breath. "This is getting old real fast."

Brennan pondered for a moment before an idea struck him. "Brady, remember that manoeuvre we've been practicing back on the ship? Number 42?"

"Yeah. What about-" The teen soon caught on to what his friend was saying and a large smirk spread across his face. "Oh. Gotcha."

He turned to face the oncoming horde and lifted his arms up to his side before he began to spin around like a tornado. The wind obeyed his command and circled around him, forming a cyclone that grew bigger and stronger with each passing second. When he thought that it was big enough, he threw the cyclone at the horde, "Tornado HO!" He shouted.

The tornado sped towards the Endless and consumed every single one of them that stood in its path. It then carried them down the hole that they came out of and shot them out of the one within the barrier in a geyser of dirt and rock. Brennan thrust his hands in a downward motion and caused the tunnel to collapse on itself, preventing anymore Endless from escaping. After he finished, they quickly joined up with the others to help them out.

_Yeah I'm slashin' right through the fire!_

_Yeah I'm slashin' might through the fire!_

_Yeah I'm slashin' fighting for the power!_

_Yeah I'm fightin' for the - power!_

Logan could feel his blood boiling as he elbowed a Licker in the chest. It was so invigorating. He could literally feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins. And it only added more to his fury.

He breathed out another column of fire before his hands clutched onto the sides of his head. His body began to convulse and shift as fire began to spread across his body uncontrollably. Two visible scars began to appear underneath his shoulder blades and along his back. Within moments, two large, skeletal, fiery wings sprouted from his back and unleashed a tremendous wave of fire against the Endless, reducing them to nothing but ashes in an instant.

When it was over, he cast a menacing glare at the armoured Endless and roared, this time releasing a deadly volley of fire. The Endless raised its weapon and blocked the attack. It soon slammed the weapon down and summoned more Endless onto the field. Yet this didn't bother Logan, again, as he flew and shot fireball after fireball at the horde. Any that were close to him he attacked them with his claws. He soon grabbed the closest Grim, flew up to the sky and quickly dropped down with the Grim's head slamming against the earth. The sheer impact was enough to cause the ground to explode and send dozens of Endless up in the air.

Logan soon pulled out his dagger and jumped towards the closest Endless that was still in the air. He planted his foot against its face and used its body to propel him the second closest Endless. The second he did, the Endless that he had previously stepped on exploded into a mist of black blood and its body parts fell to the ground. The same fate happened to any other Endless that Logan stepped on. When he hopped off the last one, he saw the Brute trying to move itself towards him so that it could crush him with its arms. Laughing like a twisted psychopath, he spun his body in a vertical motion as if he was a buzzsaw and struck the Brute in-between its eyes. He kept going, showing no signs of stopping, as more and more black blood gushed out of the slowly growing wound. Before it could roar out in pain, Logan cleaved right through the Endless and appeared behind it. The Brute stayed in midair for a moment before its body split in half and blood showered down on Logan. The two halves slammed to the ground before they vanished, yet the blood that clung onto Logan still remained, and it travelled down along his face and over his green eye. His eye still glowed even from behind the blood as he glared at Reaver once more.

Reaver scoffed irritably. _-Do I have to do everything myssself?-_ It held out its hand and summoned a dark orb the size of its palm. It then shot the orb to the side where it floated for a second before it began to expand.

_In my path you'll fear me either way_

A massive portal soon took its place and revealed a two-story tall Endless that roared loudly, shattering many windows from the buildings that were nearby. It had two rows of spikes along its back along with the much larger ones travelling down its spine and chains around its arms and legs. Its muscular body shook the ground with each step it took before it roared again. Before Logan had the chance, the Endless swatted him away with a clawed hand made him collide against the side of the building, knocking him out cold. It then looked at the people on the other side of the barrier with its hellish eyes and started to drool. It bellowed once more before running straight towards the barrier and pounded against it.

Saria turned back to see the battle again and immediately recognized the towering Endless. "TITAN!"

The barrier started to crack, starting to give way under the Titan's strength. Soon, its arm broke through and started to pound the barrier from outside, causing the cracks to spread even further. Saria shot a beam at the Endless and pierced its skin, but it did nothing to slow it down. Red and Yellow decided to do something similar and told Pika and Chuchu to use Thunder on it. The result was still the same. The barrier broke again and now the Titan was able to fit its head through the barrier. A few more hits and it would soon collapse.

Red told Poli to use Ice Beam to freeze the Endless' arm, but it had no effect. He could feel his irritation growing as he grabbed his cap and pushed it down slightly for better adjustment, "Isn't there anything that can stop that thing?"

"Unfortunately, no. A Titan is capable of enduring massive amounts of damage without showing even the slightest signs of pain." David explained.

"Gee, that's very helpful." Blue sarcastically replied.

The Titan roared once more before it slammed the barrier again, managing to get its other arm through. Before it had the chance to even destroy the rest of the barrier, Logan hopped onto its back and began to attack it with his claws. The creature hollered in pain before it jerked its back and sent the Vanguard off of it, then swung its arm at him. Logan hit the ground several times before he plunged his hand into the ground to slow his momentum and sprang back on his feet.

Focusing its attention directly on Logan now, the Titan moved away from the barrier and ran towards the Vanguard. It reared its arm back and slammed its fist down to where Logan was, but he somersaulted out of the way just in time. He then ran towards it and punched the Endless rapidly in the chest before it countered by swiping its arm at him. He lifted his arms up just in time to absorb the blow, but it still sent him stumbling back a good distance. He shook away the numbness in his arms and growled similarly to that of a Houndoom before he fired several fireballs at it. The Titan ignored them completely and leaped up in the air in an attempt to body slam him. He moved out of the way and watched as the Endless slammed against the ground, leaving a rather large indent on the ground.

While it was down, Logan flew towards it and brought both his legs closer to him before he extended them out in a dropkick right on the Endless' face. The blow was powerful enough to lift the Endless off the ground and make it crash against the side of the barrier. It broke through it halfway as the barrier started to dissipate, now starting to give in. The Titan shook its head before it picked itself up and charged again, showing no signs of any pain. But Logan had teleported behind it and slammed his elbow right down on its spinal cord, stunning its entire nervous system. It convulsed and shook before it took a few steps back, trying to shake away the pain in its body.

Knowing that he only had one chance, Logan ran towards the stunned Titan and rammed into it with his shoulder, and then back-handed it across its abdomen with his robotic arm, sending it stumbling back a few feet. The Endless finally shook away the pain and countered by raising its arms over its head and bringing them down on the Vanguard, attempting to crush him with sheer brute force. But Logan did something, something a human, nor a Pokémon, or anything ALIVE, should not have been capable of.

He caught the arms… and they did not break.

_So the truth won't set you free!_

Yellow thought that maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her. She knew that Logan was strong, but this was a whole new level. Logan was literally standing there, holding onto the Titan's hands with his own, and showed no signs of losing. She looked at the others and saw that they, too, were stunned. Even Saria and the others were stunned. She looked back at Logan as a thought crossed her mind. If Logan possessed all this power, but he wasn't a Pokémon, then what in Arceus' name was he?

In the midst of his rage, Logan could still recall bits and pieces of his past memories. For almost ten years, he had been educated in various forms of hand-to-hand combat during from his father, and one important lesson that he told him was, when you're up against a physically strong opponent, out-muscling him is rarely the way to go. Using your opponent's own strength against them, however, is usually the smarter tactic.

With that thought in mind, he moved his hands closer to one another, evidentially causing the Titan to do the same thing, and immediately threw them to the side. The Endless was unprepared for this and crashed both its arms onto the ground, allowing Logan to crouch down slightly with his right arm pulled back and threw it upward in an uppercut. Logan smirked through his jagged teeth when he felt the satisfying crunch of his hand shattering the Titan's jaw. The Endless was thrown backwards onto the ground as Logan jumped onto its chest. It threw a left punch at him to get him off of it, but he caught it in both of his arms and twisted it sharply, snapping the bones inside in two. The Endless roared loudly as it used its other arm, but Logan jumped out of the way and flew upward. The wings grew brighter and brighter until they were as bright as a supernova. The fire began to spread all around Logan's body before he pulled back his right fist and dropped down, aiming right for the Titan's head. It roared out before it was silenced forever by Logan's fist landing right in-between its eyes, followed by a massive explosion.

Red and Yellow watched as the smoke began to clear and saw Logan walking away from the charred body of the Titan, taking no notice of what he just did and glared at the armoured Endless with rage burning in his eyes. The only difference now was that the wings were beginning to return inside of Logan's back and he cracked his knuckles again. It was official. They would never want to get on his bad side unless they wanted to end up like the Endless.

"He just… took that thing down… without any effort…" Red mumbled as he gawked at the Vanguard, too shocked to say anything else.

"Now I'm really glad that he's on our side." Yellow quietly added. She had never seen anyone have so much anger inside of them. What could have happened to him that made him have this kind of wrath?

_For the glory of this golden war_

Logan advanced towards Reaver before he pulled the dagger from its sheath and held it tightly in his hand. It was just the two of them left now. The Endless responded to Logan's gesture by hefting its sword over its shoulder, showing no emotions whatsoever underneath its faceplate.

_-You are ssstrong, I will admit.-_ The Endless said, _-However, I cannot let anyone interfere with the master'sss plan, essspecially a Vanguard sssuch asss yourssself.-_

Something in Logan's mind twitched as he began to bar his teeth. "Why don't we cut the chit-chat and just go straight to the part where I slit your goddamn throat!"

_-Hahahahaha! Ssstill mad that I tried to kill that pathetic child?-_

His anger flared even more, a clear sign shown from the way the symbols grew brighter, "Listen to me very careful, you worthless pile of trash! Nobody, and I mean _nobody_, harms my little girl AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!"

He lashed out and swung his dagger, aiming to cut the Endless' throat as he said, but it parried the attack just in time with its sword and shoved Logan away from it. After he regained his balance, he quickly moved out of the way before the Endless slammed its sword down where he was. Logan lunged forward again and stabbed the Endless in the shoulder, seeing the black blood gushing out of its wound. The Endless' eyes flared and he swung his sword at Logan again, only this time he was too late to avoid it. He lifted his robotic arm just in time to block the sword, but the sheer power was enough to send him back a few feet. The Endless dashed towards him and swung again, this time landing a good hit on him across his stomach. The Vanguard placed his hand over the wound as his blood began to seep in-between his fingers.

He can feel his rage growing. He was being careless and the Endless managed to hit him. And what's worse, the attack hurt like hell. Now he was furious. "You want to kill me that badly? Let's see you try, asshole!" He screamed out.

He shot a powerful fireball at Reaver, attempting to drive him back, and attacked. His dagger cut through its armour and pierced its flesh, but the Endless elbowed him on the chest and punched him in the face. Feeling even more furious than before, Logan returned the punch with his own and sent the Endless hurdling straight to a building, then proceeded to slam its head against the wall several times before he threw the Endless to another building on the other side. It landed with a thud, leaving a large dent on the wall. It shook its head and growled before getting back up. They locked eyes with one another before they charged, the thoughts of killing each other growing with each passing second.

_Lest you bow your head to me__…__ to me, to me!_

The next few minutes was nothing but a brawl between the two opponents as everyone on the sidelines watched in anticipation. Sometimes one of them would move out of the way to avoid the other's attack and lash out in a counterattack, or would get hit by the attacks and either absorb them or cringe from the pain. Sometimes they would even use their own fists to send them sailing across the area. Reaver, on the other hand, had used its head several times to stun Logan or do a sweep kick to knock him off his feet. Even now, it used its sword to whip the dirt up in the air and blind Logan. While he took a few steps back to wipe the dirt off his eyes, Reaver spun its sword and attempted to slash him across the chest.

While his eyes weren't very useful at the moment, his ears were still as sharp as ever, so when he heard the whooshing sound of the Endless' sword, he raised his dagger and blocked the attack. The Endless tried again a few more times, but the result was still the same. It hissed angrily before it started to flail its sword around, hoping to cut Logan's head right off. By now his vision began to clear up and he did the same thing.

The two were caught in a deadlock as their weapons clashed against one another like before, only this time they didn't bother to move away to avoid each other's attacks. They moved faster and faster until they were nothing but a blur and the ground beneath them began give way. Gusts of wind flew around them whenever their weapons clashed and intensified with each second. Logan's eyes flashed as he screamed out in anger, wanting nothing more than to tear the Endless apart slowly and gruesomely.

_Yeah I'm slashin' right through the fire!_

Saria watched the fight and silently prayed that Logan would defeat this Endless before it had the chance to hit him.

_Yeah I'm slashin' might through the fire!_

Red and Yellow had their hands to their belts, ready to call out their Pokémon if the situation got serious.

_Yeah I'm slashin' fighting for the power!_

Leira kept chanting quietly for her papa to win as the fear of possibly losing him grew more and more.

_Pow-_

_-Screw this!-_ Reaver shouted out.

Right after their weapons parried, it headbutted Logan to stun him and drove its blade right through his heart.

Time began to slow down to everyone as Logan spat out a mouthful of blood. The newly made wound began to leak out blood from both sides of his body. His strength began to fade from him and soon, his head slouched down.

The Endless laughed drove the blade deeper into Logan, letting out more blood in the process. Red and Green's eyes both flew up in shock as Yellow and Blue covered their mouths. Leira began to cry and buried her face in Amanda's dress. The psychic gently brushed the child's raven hair before she began to levitate a boulder that was nearby. She would have screamed out Logan's name, but someone else had already beaten her to it.

A certain Vanguard girl to be exact.

"LOGAN!" Saria screamed out as she tried to run over to his side, but was kept in place by Brennan.

Red shook his head and looked at Pika, "That's it! C'mon Pika, we're hel-" He wasn't able to finish his sentence before he felt someone's hand on his shoulder. He turned to look and saw Brady standing behind him.

He shook his head at the trainer, "Don't go out there just yet."

Yellow looked at him in complete shock, "What?! You're just going to abandon him!? He's dying! We need to go and-"

"Wait." Brady interrupted her before he pointed back at the fallen Logan, "And you will see."

None of them wanted to leave Logan to his death, but they had no choice and instead followed Brady's word and looked back at the fight. They could now hear the Endless laughing like crazy as it drove the blade deeper.

_-Hahahahahahahaha! How the mighty have fallen!-_ It said wickedly, _-With you gone, thisss world will sssoon fall under the power of the Endlessssss!-_ It slowly began to pull the sword out of Logan, wanting to make his last moments as agonizing as possible, _-When I'm through with you, I will persssonally sssee to it that the child sssuffersss the sssame fate asss you.-_

While it was busy mocking Logan, it did not notice the Vanguard's fingers slowly beginning to twitch. Soon, his arm began to slowly rise up and moved towards the sword. Reaver only laughed at this, knowing that it was futile for the Vanguard to survive the attack.

When the hand suddenly grabbed onto the sword with newfound strength, however, did the Endless stop its laughing and looked at Logan fearfully. _-Huh?!-_

_Yeah I'm slashin' right through the fire!_

Logan's reared his head up and screamed at the Endless, his eyes now burning like Hell itself. He swung his robotic arm at the Endless, making it lose its grip on its weapon and sending it flying. Red and Yellow both became surprised and watched as Logan pulled the blade out of his chest and, remarkably, snapped it in half. He roared at the Endless again before something occurred that really caught everyone's attention.

His wounds began to heal themselves. They moved as if they had a mind of their own and began to stitch together like there was an invisible thread. After a few moments, the deadly wound was now gone, and the scar soon disappeared. He began to stand up straight again and moved his arms around to get rid of the kinks that were there. He cracked his neck a few times again, all the while having the same jagged smile plastered on his face.

Before Reaver even had the chance to get back up, Logan teleported right in front of it, picked it up by the collar of its armour, and slammed its body several times onto the ground left and right before throwing it at a building on the opposite side. As the Endless flew across the area, Logan ran after it, running at the same speed as the Endless. The Endless slammed against the wall again, only this time Logan slammed its head so hard that it burst through the wall. He then began to run beside the building while carrying the Endless and skidding its head along the wall. A trail of debris was left behind as Reaver's armoured head continued to run across the building, till eventually Logan stopped and threw it back to the middle of the field.

The Endless' body flew awfully close to Yellow where she was standing, so she was able to make out the blood and where pieces of its armour had broken off. She then saw Logan running by at the same distance and had a clear view of him. Her heart began to slow down as time all around her stopped. His new appearance… it was too terrifying for words. The red maw behind the row upon row of knife-like teeth, the hellish eyes, the glowing symbols, the blood that covered his body, the heavy aura around him that screamed the word rage, this entire form of his was far more terrifying than any Pokémon she had ever seen. What was worse was the way his eyes looked. They didn't hold the confusion or masked happiness like they once did. They actually showed no visible emotions save for one; primal rage.

_Yeah I'm slashin' might through the fire!_

When time started to return to normal around Yellow, Logan zipped by after the Endless, leaving behind a massive gust of wind that almost blew her off her feet had Red not caught her in time. The Endless hit the ground several times before Logan landed on it and started to use its body like a surfboard across the pavement. When it began to slow, he flipped over the Endless, grabbed it by the head again, and slammed it onto the ground before he lifted it up to stare at it at eye level. He then proceeded to punch the creature in the face several times before his last punch sent the creature high up into the sky.

A tendril of darkness appeared in Logan's hand as he shot it at the Endless. It pieced through the Endless' chestplate, making it cough up some of its blood.

"GET OVER HERE!" Logan shouted before he pulled the tendril very hard. He spun the tendril around him, causing the Endless to slam into or along anything it hit till he pulled the Endless back to him.

Right when he was close enough, Logan grabbed the Endless with both arms and performed a full german suplex on it, slamming its head right onto the ground. With the Endless now on the ground, Logan planted his foot on its right shoulder to keep it from escaping.

He crouched down slightly and spoke to the endless, his voice seething with hatred, "You missed, by the way." He saw the Endless look at him baffled and it only made him laugh, "Don't you understand, Endless scum? Killing me is much harder than it looks!"

His robotic hand hit the Endless square in the face. Hard. Hard enough to shatter the helm to pieces. He retracted his hand and pulled back the other fist before he continued, "You. You and your kind think it's fun to kill people just for sport. Think it's fun to destroy countless worlds in order to add more to your numbers! Think it's fun to try and harm my friends!"

Again, he punched it in the face. His rage was over the limit. He couldn't stop it even if he wanted to. With every sentence he uttered, he punched the Endless again and again, inflicting more and more pain on it than before. "First you come to our world and take it away from us, then you come to this world and attack a department store full of people and Pokémon alike."

_BAM!_

"And then you try to kill Leira!"

_BAM!_ The Endless felt its jaw shatter completely from that one punch.

"MY PRECIOUS LEIRA!" Another punch was delivered, this time shattering the helmet into pieces and revealing the Endless' skeletal face.

"I have looked out for her ever since your goddamn master killed her parents' right in front of her in cold blood! And then he tried to kill her!"

He was breathing heavily. His heart was beating so fast it felt like it would explode. He had never felt so much anger before. A part of his mind told him to stop what he was doing, but it was immediately pushed back by the more dominant part. All he wanted to do was vent out all his anger on this one Endless. "You tried to take Leira away from me! Just like you took _Her_ away from me ten years ago!"

_BAM!_

"I remember the incident very well! In fact, it is the only thing that I keep seeing in my sleep!"

_BAM!_

"Your kind took everything away from me! My childhood, my happiness, everyone and everything that I once cherished and loved; all of those things gone because of YOU!"

_BAM!_

"Well now it's time for vengeance!"

_BAM!_

"I will make you suffer as much as I have!"

_BAM!_

"I will make you regret the day you came into existence!"

_BAM!_

"And more importantly," His left eye was so engulfed in rage that it completely turned blood red and burned as bright as a raging fire. The symbol on his back became so bright that it casted a large illusion that hovered behind him, "I will show you the true meaning of FEAR!"

_Yeah I'm slashin' fighting for the power!_

He went all out on the Endless. His arms became nothing but a blur as he punched it again and again until its face was nothing but a bloody mess, and even then he didn't stop. He just kept going and going, showing no signs of stopping. Smoke and fire came out of his mouth as he continued to scream at his victim.

His shouts of frustration had not gone unnoticed by the others. Brady and Brennan had their heads bowed down, a sad look in their eyes, while Amanda hugged Leira closer to her. David looked on at the brutality, unaffected whatsoever by Logan's pain. Green looked away from the sight, the words having dug deep inside of him while Blue tried her best to not listen to the screams. It was so painful, so sad, it was enough to send tears in her eyes.

Red and Yellow? They both looked at Logan, a feeling of sadness enveloping their hearts as Logan punched the now lifeless Endless even more. So that was the reason for his pain. The Endless destroyed his life years ago and made him suffer this much, not to mention the loss of someone very important to him. Red tipped his hat in an act of sadness while Yellow began to shed tears in her eyes. It seemed that Logan had suffered through much worse than the others have. She truly felt sorry for him.

Logan reared his right hand back, ready to strike it down with all his might before someone called out.

"Stop it, Logan!"

_Power!_

The familiarity of the voice, followed by the seriousness in its tone, was enough to break Logan's concentration over what he was doing and threw his aim off a bit. He punched the ground directly beside the Endless, causing the earth to shake and form a wide crater around it. He stopped his screaming and looked at where his fist was before he slowly turned around to look at the person who spoke out.

Saria stood a reasonably good distance away from Logan, fearful that he might still lash out at her in the middle of his rage. She watched as Logan began to walk lankily towards her, his hate filled eyes fixed on her ocean blue eyes. When he was about a foot's distance away from her, he stopped moving and glared down at her. It proved to be rather easy, since the top of her head reached to his eye level. She could hear him growling very deeply as his eyes scanned all around her body. She hated seeing him like this. There was too much pain and sadness in his eyes whenever he went into this form, it was too much for her, and she wasn't the one feeling all this.

She lifted her hands up to Logan's face and gently brushed her slender fingers along his cheeks. She moved his head closer to hers and placed his forehead against hers. His eyes began to close and his growl grew softer, the sweet fragrance of Saria's hair entering his nostrils.

She chuckled softly inside. He made such a strange sound whenever she did this. It was almost adorable. "It is okay, Logan. It is alright. They are all gone now. There is no more Endless." She whispered softly to him, which earned her another soft growl. He tried to rear his head back, but she held on tight. "Shhhh. Do not worry. It is okay. Everything will be alright, Logan. I am right here. It is alright. It is alright."

Her words have hit their mark, as the red glow in his eye and the symbols began to slowly disappear. His mouth began to sew itself back together and the growling started to vanish. The aggressive aura that once surrounded his body was now gone. He moved his hand up to his head as he felt a headache coming. His vision began to clear up as he saw Saria's face in front of his. He became surprised by how close she was to him, but shook away the notion.

He saw the concern look in her eyes and quietly spoke to her, "…S-Saria…" She nodded her head slowly, "Wh-What… What happened?"

She held her breath. There wasn't really an easy way to explain this to him. She placed her hand on his shoulder and guided him to look behind him. He did so, and the moment he saw the fire and the wrecked buildings and debris, his heart sunk. It sunk even deeper when he turned to look at the shocked and worried faces of his friends. The antennas on his head drooped down sadly as he sat on the grass. The truth came to him like a bullet, and it hurt a lot more than it should have.

Saria knelt down beside him and placed a comforting hand on his back. She patiently listened as Logan mumbled, "I lost control again, didn't I?"

She had no reason to lie. It was plain obvious. "Yes, but you still managed to regain control over yourself, so that is a positive."

He cringed slightly as he grabbed hold of his arm. Saria noticed this and told him to remove his hand for her to inspect. He didn't want to, but eventually she won the argument and he listened to her. He removed his hand and she inspected the wound. What she saw made her gasp.

"You are bleeding. Maybe we should take you back to Pallet Town and patch you up there?"

"I'm fine." He argued. "I'm… fine."

Saria didn't buy it and proceeded to pick Logan up. She placed one of his arms over her shoulders and wrapped one hand around his waist. She helped him walk to where the others were, while at the same time trying to give him words of encouragement.

Then, almost suddenly, a familiar scream appeared from behind them. Logan let go of Saria, ignoring his injuries, and pulled out his dagger to see the now alive Reaver with a face that was barely recognizable…

…and an energy blade going right through its chest.

Logan and Saria watched as the Endless was cleaved perfectly in half by the unknown weapon. It's two halves dropped to the ground and behind it stood a familiar friend.

The friend was more like a cybernetic ninja adorned in black, sleek armour and a double bladed laser staff. It had a visor that covered both its optic sensors and a red sleek plume* on its head. It had four side antennas on the sides of its head. The robot spun the staff around before driving one end deep into the ground. It laughed as it walked up to the two Vanguards and held out a helping hand.

**"Well, looks like I came in just the right time?"**

Logan looked at the figure for a few seconds before he smiled and accepted the robot's hand. "Didn't expect to see you here, Alpha."

**"What do you expect? I saw the whole fight from up on the Seraph, and I figured I'd come down and join the fight."** Alpha placed one of Logan's arms around his shoulders while Saria proceeded to do the same thing with the other.

They joined up with the others and gently set Logan down beside the others. While Saria tended to some of Logan's wounds, Alpha walked up to the crowd of people, getting a few worried mumblings from them. He cleared his audio receptor before he began to speak, **"Hello. My name is Alpha Centurion. I am well aware that I am a machine, so it may be a bit confusing to a lot of you. I understand that there's a Gym established here in the city, so if it is alright with all of you, I wish to speak with the Gym Leader. Is there someone here named Miss Erika?"**

A young woman wearing an elegant purple and black kimono and a pink headband with dark blue shoulder length hair and grey eyes stepped up from the crowd and approached the robot. She bowed lightly before replying, "I am Lady Erika."

He returned the bow, **"A pleasure to meet such a beautiful and talented princess such as yourself." **He pointed at where Logan was before continuing, **"You'll have to forgive my friend Logan over there. He didn't mean to destroy part of your city or cause a lot of damage to a five story department store."**

Erika waved her hand, "It is alright. Celadon City has been through much worse than the events that have happened today. You're friend was only trying to defend us… even though his methods were a bit less than merciful."

**"That's Logan. The only person I know who enjoys killing Endless more than anyone else I've ever met."** He looked over at the department store and several of the buildings and noticed how extent the damage was, **"Man. These Endless sure did a number on your city Why don't I call in a squad of repair drones to help fix the damages? Free of charge."**

"A kind and thoughtful offer, Alpha Centurion." She looked over his shoulder and noted how serious the damage was on some parts of Logan's body. She gave out a solemn look and spoke softly, "I do hope your friend will feel better."

**"Don't worry,"** Alpha assured, **"He's a lot tougher than he looks."**

Meanwhile, Saria wrapped some more gauze around Logan's arm, trying to seal the wound up as much as she could with as little gauze as possible. Brady knelt down beside the two, a wide smirk across his face, "Well, that was… something else." He admitted.

"Can it." Logan protested, "I don't want to hear about it."

"So you don't want to know about the part where you continuously pounded that Endless right in the face again and again until it was nothing but a bloody pulp?"

"Well, now that you brought that up, now I unfortunately remember it. Thanks a lot, asshole."

Green shook his head tiredly, "Well, at least it's over with."

"For now." Brennan added.

It was by then that David stepped in, "He has a point. As long as whoever is masquerading the entire thing is still alive and somewhere on this planet, it will be rather difficult to eliminate all of the Endless."

"I agree with Glitch-head here~!" Blue chimed in jokingly.

David looked at her with a cold, sceptical look, "Glitch-head?" He asked. This only caused Blue to laugh even more.

As they continued discussing to one another, Yellow and Red walked up to Logan to check and see how he was doing, "Will he be alright?" Red asked.

Saria finished rubbing the ointment over the scars on Logan's chest before she grabbed some more gauze. Yellow looked at the bottle containing the ointment and read the label that was on it, 'Thiosinaminum'. "Other than a few serious scars and a few fractured bones, he will be perfectly fine." She replied as she wrapped more of the gauze around him.

"That's good to hear." Yellow said. Her eyes soon darted to the large tattooed symbol on his back and found herself curious.

She walked around him to take a better look at it while Red continued speaking, "How did you even survive that attack? We all thought that you were dead."

"It takes more than that to bring me down. Trust me." Logan answered. He then rubbed the spot where he was impaled and cringed slightly, "Although, that did hurt like hell."

"I can imagine. You just had a sword go right through!" The two stared to laugh at the small comment, making Logan feel a little better. As he watched Saria cover up his wounds, he noticed that the large gashes on Logan's chest. They seemed old, almost a decade to be exact. That made no sense. Scars are supposed to heal over time, but these ones haven't. Why is that? He voiced his confusion towards Saria, "Those gashes are old, aren't they?"

"Yes." She replied without turning her head.

"Then how come they haven't healed? Don't these kinds of injuries heal over time?"

She stopped what she was doing and turned to look at the trainer. Her eyes were filled with sadness as she struggled to find the words in her mouth. It wasn't until Logan stopped her and answered Red's question, "These are more than just regular scars, Red. They are much worse than that. They can never be healed, nor will they ever will be."

Red tipped his cap slightly, "That sucks." He turned to look at Yellow and spoke, "Maybe you could help him out, Yellow. You know? Use that healing power of yours on him. He did say he wasn't human."

She paid no attention to him. Instead, her eyes were transfixed on the half-covered symbol on Logan's back. Red became confused at first before she saw him slowly raising her hand to where the symbol was. Her small fingers hovered over it, as if she was in some sort of trance, and touched the smooth exterior.

An intense feeling jolted up her arm, causing her to cry out loudly. Images flashed before her eyes wherever she looked. Some of them were happy, some of them were sad, some were even to gruesome to describe. But one image kept appearing and it made her heart frozen with fear. The person that she saw wasn't human, but at the same time it didn't look as though it was _alive_. With the gouged out eyes and blood pouring out of them and the wounds all over its body, it looked as though it came out of a child's nightmare. The images soon vanished and she felt herself returning to reality. The feeling in her legs was gone and she almost collapsed to the ground had Red not caught her in his arms in time.

He shook her slightly, trying to wake her up, "Are you okay?"

He heard her groan slightly as she placed her hand over her head, "Y-Yeah. I-I think so."

"What happened?" He asked.

She looked at him for a second before her eyes shifted t the ground, "I… I don't know. I remembered I was looking at something, something that was on Logan's back, and now I'm here… in your…" Her face quickly went red in embarrassment. She couldn't help it. The thoughts of Red wrapping his strong, warm arms around her small body and feeling their warmth against her skin was enough to make her go crazy. And even as he was doing it now, she couldn't help but blush as more fantasies started to appear in her head.

Arceus, Logan was right. She is head over heels for Red.

"I-I-I thought I heard something, too. It sounded like a voice." She added.

"Must have been mine, maybe. I was calling out your name."

She shook her head, "No. It wasn't yours. I would have known. This one sounded like it was distant, young even. I… I don't even recognize it either."

Red saw her rubbing her head again and lifted her back up on her feet, "I think maybe we should head back to Pallet Town. It has been a busy day."

"Agreed." Logan said as Saria finished up with the bandages and helped Logan up. "I really could use some rest."

Alpha and Erika soon joined up with the group as dozens of drones began to fly by, "I want to thank you all again for saving Celadon City. We surely would not have survived if none of you had been here to help us."

Brady immediately ran up to her and bowed, "It was our pleasure, my lady. We couldn't stand to see such a beautiful city fall to the hands of the Endless, especially if that beautiful city," His hands quickly clasped onto hers and he leaned his head as close to hers as she could, "had such a beautiful woman such as yourself."

Erika was a little stunned by his actions before she heard him continuing, "Perhaps I can help repay you as well, say, dinner perhaps? You can choose whatever restaurant you want and I will pay for it. My treat."

She wasn't able to answer before she saw Blue grab Brady by the ear and forcefully pulled him away from her. She looked back at the Gym Leader and quickly apologized, "You'll have to excuse him. He gets like that with every woman. He even tried to do the same thing with me and Yellow."

The Gym Leader crossed her arms and looked at Brady as if he was a criminal. It was by then that Alpha spoke up, **"Perhaps we should give Brady an assignment to keep his mind off of woman for a while. Like watching over the repairs of the city?"**

"WHAT?!"The teen protested before Blue tugged on his ear again, "You can't be serious! Why not make Logan do it? He's the one who wrecked the city!"

**"Last I checked, you didn't get impaled in the chest by a giant sword, or lose your temper and beat the ever living crap out of an Endless that tried to kill your adoptive daughter."**

He was about to argue something back before Brennan quickly covered his mouth and interrupted him, "We will happily watch over the repairs of the city, so long as you'll forgive Logan for everything."

Erika nodded her head, "Of course. After all, it was thanks to him that we are all still here, right?" She noticed something out of the corner of her eye and saw a bag full of unknown contents nearby. She walked over to it and picked the bag up and pulled out the first thing that was on top. She looked at it and noticed that it was Deoxys doll. "How did this-"

"DEO'S GIFT!"

Before she knew it, a small child quickly jumped her and wrapped her arms around her waist. She was happily shouting at the Gym Leader as she rubbed her head against her, "You found Deo's gift! Thank you so much, kind lady!" She looked down and saw the raven haired girl from before beaming happily at her.

She heard her name from before, when Logan was fighting that creature. Leira, she believed. She showed the girl the toy and asked, "I take it this and the bag belong to you?" The child quickly nodded her head. A smile appeared on the Gym Leader's face as she put the toy back in the bag and gave it to Leira, "Here you go. Make sure you keep it close to you next time."

"I will! Thank you again, kind lady!"

"Please, call me Erika."

The child beamed even more, "You have a pretty name, Erika!" She waved goodbye to the Gym Leader before she returned to Logan's side and showed him the bag.

Erika smiled at the sight. The two acted like a real family, a father and a daughter. It was truly a heartwarming sight.

* * *

><p>By the time they joined up with the others, Alpha told them that Brady, Brennan and David will stay and watch over the repairs while he went with the others to Pallet Town and monitor for anymore possible Endless sightings. Both Green and Blue decided to volunteer to help out and began making their way to where Erika was.<p>

Amanda walked beside them, giving Blue what looked like a basket full of clothes before she joined the others. Her smiling face and the basket of clothes in her hands was enough to prove Logan's suspicion. "Guess what guys? I found all the clothes that I was gonna buy!"

"That is great." Saria said before she realized something, "But how did they survive the fire?"

"I don't know. Guess it was all just luck." Amanda shrugged.

**"If you are done,"** Alpha interrupted, **"We should probably start heading for Pallet Town before it gets late. I want to be there as soon as possible."**

"Sure thing, Alpha~!" Amanda chimed as she used her psychic powers to lift the basket beside her and walked alongside beside him. Saria held onto Logan's arm to make sure he wouldn't stumble as Leira walked beside them and followed close behind, while Red and Yellow followed after them.

He crossed his arms behind his back as Pika walked by his side, "Man, I'm tired. Who would have thought that fighting Endless would leave you restless?"

Yellow looked up at him as she held Chuchu in her arms, "I guess that's how Logan feels."

"Can't really blame him, though. He did say his life was ruined because of them." He looked up ahead and saw Logan resting against the wall, clutching onto his arm as it started to ache. "Poor guy. It must have been tough to lose everything from those things."

"Yeah…" She looked at Logan and noticed the pain had returned in his eyes, this time much worse. She knew what it felt like to lose someone important in your life. She thought that Red was gone when he was frozen by Lorelei of the Elite Four. But to watch that person die? That was even worse. She silently prayed that whatever pain he was suffering would go away and let his heart itself from the trauma it had endured.

She noticed something out of place as they continued walking to the entrance of Celadon City. The building that Logan was resting against had large glass panes along its side that reflected stuff like a mirror. But that wasn't what bugged her. It was when Logan started to move away from the building that she noticed that his reflection didn't move at all. It just stayed where it was with its back turned on her.

She began to hear distorted screams from the distance and static that gradually began to grow louder as the creepiest thing happened. The reflection began to turn its head slowly around, very inhuman like, and the static grew louder. Soon it became so loud that she had to cover her ears to not hear it. She continued watching the reflection turn its head until it was staring right at her…

…and almost screamed at what she saw.

Its eyes, or rather lack of eyes, were nothing but black pits and poured blood out of its sockets. Its jaw looked as though it was stitched up at one point and had Sharpedo-like teeth inside of its bloodied maw. Half of its body was rotting as she could see some of its bones through its torn flesh. Its body was wrecked with scars and wounds, and much like the eyes, they were bleeding, though not as much as the eyes. She heard it beginning to laugh in a twisted and demonic matter as it stared at her amber eyes with its eyeless sockets. She wanted to scream, she wanted to run over to Red and tell him what she saw, but something was preventing her from doing so. She could hear her name being called out several times, but she felt terrified as the reflection began to pry itself from the building and started to step into the real world. Its head twisted uncontrollably as its laughter grew worse, till it was the only thing that she could hear. She plugged her ears and told it to go away as loud as she could as it began to walk towards her. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes as she felt a sudden change in the air and felt something cold wrap around her.

Hands grabbed onto her shoulders and shook her slightly as Red kept calling out her name, "Yellow! Yellow! Wake up! It's me, Red!"

Soon as she heard Red's voice again, the creature vanished and the world began to return to normal. She blinked a few times before looking up at her friend's face, his worry for her obvious from the way his face portrayed it.

"What's wrong? I heard you shouting something and then you started crying."

She honestly couldn't answer. She had no idea what happened, but it felt as though she just saw something terrible. Something evil. She blushed at Red's worry over her and waved her hands to him, "It's nothing. Really. I'm probably still tired from last night. Thought I saw a ghost."

Red didn't seem to buy it, but he hummed slightly before he let go of Yellow, "Well, if your sure it was nothing-"

"It was. Don't worry, Red." She interrupted him, trying her best to smile despite what she had just seen.

Red returned it before the two started moving again, only Yellow walked a few feet further back from him. She couldn't tell him what she saw. Not yet. For what she knew, this has something to do with Logan. The thing looked like him, but the feeling that she felt from it proved to be something else. What that feeling was or what exactly _It_ was, she didn't know, but she had a strong feeling that she was about to find out soon.

_Calm down, Yellow._ She said to herself in her head, _You're probably still tired from last night and you started to see things. Maybe it really was nothing. Yeah, that's it. Nothing at all._

_…Nothing at all._

* * *

><p><span>Plume:<span> A group of feathers that are placed on the top of a knight's helm.

**I apologize in advance if the ending was a little sloppy, but I started going lazy and it ended up like this.**

**Like last time, the song used in this chapter is Through The Fire by Crush 40 since it is the perfect theme for Logan's rage. And I apologize for the predicament that I am putting Yellow in, but I figured she would probably want to know what exactly Logan is dealing with as a result of his trauma. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I will submit the next one when I get the chance.**

**I will most likely come back to this and edit the crap out of it since it was rushed, but that won't be for a while.**


	11. A Lonely Cubone's Cries

**Chapter 10: A Lonely Cubone's Cries**

A few hours have gone by as the group continued making their way to Pallet Town. With Blue, being the usual person to start up a conversation, back at Celadon City with Green, the trip had been awfully quiet. Even Red didn't bother to break the silence, and for a good reason.

It was almost 1:00 pm and already they had to fight for their lives against an entire swarm of Endless. The tension in the air was thick, and it only made them want to keep it silent even more. Red moved his eyes to Alpha, the new guy, and noticed that he was holding a contraption of some sort in his hands. The robot held the scanner above his head and pressed a few buttons on a holographic screen. He brought the device closer to him and pressed more buttons as images began to appear on the screen. Red wasn't sure what it was for, but he knew it couldn't be good.

He decided to break the unnerving silence and walked up to Logan, noticing how he was clutching his arm in his hand. He saw Saria trying to cover up another one of his wounds and noticed her hand holding onto his. He tapped his shoulder a few times to get his attention, "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Like I got hit by a truck." Logan answered, but he quickly formed a smile on his face and looked back at him, "But I'm still alive, so that counts."

Red saw Scruffy run past him as Leira chased after him. She was giggling happily as they both ran around Amanda a few times before moving a bit farther ahead. He smiled, "She really loves Pokémon, does she?"

The Vanguard watched as Leira bent down to let Scruffy lick her in the face before the two continued chasing after one another. "She's kind of like you and Yellow when you think about it."

He remembered what he had said to the Endless back at Celadon City and hesitantly brought it up, "I… really don't know how to ask this, but… what exactly happen to her parents?"

Yellow was standing beside him when she heard the question and looked a little worried. Logan knew that she was just as curious, but at the same time she was somewhat aware of what might have happened, and wished to not know the rest. Saria alternated her eyes between Logan and Red for a few moments before she heard her friend speaking.

"They were killed by Ark a few months ago." The Vanguard sadly spoke, "She's been traumatized by it ever since, having nightmares of… seeing her parents die in front of her and Ark trying to kill her. That's why her fear of strangers is much worse than it was before. She thinks that everyone is like Ark."

"Oh." Red said as he sadly looked back at the small girl, "Poor kid. I feel awful for her."

"You'd feel the same way if your family was killed right in front of your eyes." Logan stated. Red noticed the slight sense of hostility in Logan's voice and decided not say anything else.

The rest of the trip had remained silent like before till they eventually made it to Pallet Town. The temperature immediately grew warm and pleasant all around them. They entered the Professor's Lab and began to settle down. As Amanda began to sort through the clothes she bought, Alpha approached Red and Yellow with the device he had earlier. He motioned for the both of them to stand up as he held the gadget close to Red.

**"Alright, stand still for a second while I scan your internal organs."** He said as a light appeared and began to scan the male trainer. He stayed still for a few moments until the light disappeared and the information began to display on the screen. Alpha pressed on a few buttons and began to view the gathered data, **"Okay, let's see; lungs are perfectly functional. Heart and blood pressure are stabilized. Brain waves are normal. Slight blunt damage to the abdomen and right forearm. You check out okay, Red."**

Red looked at Alpha confused, "What's this for anyway?"

**"Standard protocol. I have to scan each individual that has dealt with the Endless to ensure that they haven't sustained any serious injuries. Some Endless are capable of poisoning people by use of their claws or teeth. To prevent an unlikely death, I have to scan each person's biological components for any ailments or injuries." **He turned his attention to The Healer and motioned for her to come up, **"You're up next, Yellow."**

Yellow walked over to Alpha as he began to scan her body. The device returned the displayed the information on screen as the light dissipated. What he saw was startling, to say the least, **"Hmm, interesting. Your lungs seem to have a very faint trace of pneumonia, but nothing too serious. Your heart and blood pressure seem to be fluctuating blood at a faster rate than the average human. Minor injuries around some parts of your body, and… Oh my."**

The trainers exchanged glances with one another before they looked back at Alpha. They both knew that there was something wrong. "What is it?" Yellow asked.

Alpha glanced at them for a second before looking back at the screen, **"Well, according to this, your brain is emitting a strong increase of alpha waves throughout your entire nervous system. Not only that, but it's moving at a faster rate than what the average human brain should process."** He cupped his hand underneath his chin as he pondered in thought, **"If that were to happen, then the parasympathetic nervous system should have stepped in and set your system to a cool down state. Instead it is causing you to experience a heightened arousal characteristic similar to that of a panic attack. The only way for that to happen would be if you were experiencing an intense amount of fear."**

"It must have been when that armoured Endless tried to kill her and Leira." Red suggested, "They were falling down the building and would have died had I not saved them in time."

_I wish that was true, Red. I wish that was true._ She thought as the event of encountering the nightmarish creature played through her head. She had never seen anything more terrifying than that in her entire life. And she thought Logan was scary when he was angry, this one topped him by a long shot.

**"That is a possible case, but I'm not sure."** He replied back before he put away the scanner, **"Well, you both check out okay from what I can tell. However, I will need you to take it easy from now on, Yellow. A high amount of brainwaves can cause several side effects such as fainting, dilemmas, vomiting, or hallucinations."**

"Sure." She said politely. She looked back at Logan and noticed that his back was turned as he was talking with Saria. The bandages that were wrapped around his body were covering most of the symbol. She thought for a moment, and realized that it was identical to the one on his necklace. She walked up to Alpha as he was turning away and grabbed his arm, "Wait!"

The robot stopped in his tracks and turned around to face her, **"What is it?"**

"W-Well…" She stammered a little as she looked at the robot's intimidating glare. Even if he was being relaxed, his eyes were still very sharp. "Wh-When Logan was fighting that Endless back in Celadon, the one that was in the armour, it called him something. A Vanguard, I think." Alpha's optics widen a little, "What exactly is a Vanguard?"

He looked back at Logan and Saria for a few seconds before looking back at her, **"I'm not exactly supposed to tell you about it, but since you two got involved in this, I might as well explain what is really going on. And since I don't want to bore you kids so easily, I should just go with the short version." **

He cleared his voice box again before he spoke, **"Since the beginning of time, there was an ancient race of beings known as Vanguards who lived in a far off galaxy. Wise as they were powerful, the Vanguards were well known for their peaceful nature and served as peacekeepers or negotiators for treaties between warring planets. They were greatly respected by many."** His gaze cast a sad look to the trainers, **"That all changed about 5,000 years ago."**

Both trainers glanced at one another before Alpha explained, **"About 5,000 years ago, a being known as the Dark Lord plunged Valkeron, the Vanguard home world, into darkness and unleashed a massive army of Endless against the Vanguards. He had even made a truce with the Wargarions, a race of technological barbarians and the Vanguards most hated enemies, into joining him in the war. More than 90% of the entire population was wiped out within a few days. When the evacuation was declared, the surviving Vanguards fled from their world and journeyed to other worlds where they hoped to begin a new life. Some of them had settled on Earth, and had been hiding in fear that the Endless would find them again, for thousands of years."**

**"This symbol,"** He pressed a panel on his chest and caused it to flip, revealing a circular symbol with several lines going across it. Yellow instantly recognized it as the one on Logan's back, **"is the mark of my creators. The symbol of the Vanguard race. As you can already tell by the mark on his back, Logan is one of them."**

"So that's why that Endless called him a Vanguard." Red said. Though there was still something that bothered him, and he couldn't help but ask Alpha about it. "But he said that he was a _human_. How could he be a Vanguard if he was a human?"

**"To protect themselves from the Endless, the Vanguards had to take on the forms of the aliens inhabiting the worlds that they went to. It was the only choice that they had. Since Logan's ancestors had to become humans to hide from the Dark Lord, Logan had to take on the form of a human as well when he was born."**

"Does he know that he's a Vanguard?" Yellow asked.

Alpha lowered his head slightly, letting his optics look at the ground as he gave out a tired sigh. **"Saria told him a few days after he left his world, but so far he hasn't given a valid response. We don't know if he's mad at his family for not telling him what he is, or still trying to process the information."** He leaned his head close to the trainers and whispered quietly, **"I do, however, think it would be a good idea if you two kept this conversation a secret. I don't think Logan would appreciate it that more people know of his 'identity'."**

The trainers nodded their heads simultaneously, "We'll keep it a secret then." Red informed the robot.

Leira soon came up to them with Scruffy dashing beside her, a wide smile spread across her face as she looked up at the two trainers, "Is it really true? Is Oneesan and Red-san going to teach me about Pokémon?"

Both trainers looked at one another in confusion. When were they told about this? Yellow looked back at the beaming girl and asked, "Who told you that?"

"Papa did! He said that you would help me learn more about being closer with my friends and how to do a Pokémon battle!"

The Viridian girl turned her head to look at Logan and saw him looking back at them. A smile was on his face as he slowly nodded his head before turning his attention back to Saria, who had came back with some water.

Now that she thought about it, she recalled Logan telling them about training Leira this morning when they found out she had Pokémon. Maybe training her would help keep her mind off of that dreadful nightmare she saw and make her feel better. She smiled at the thought and happily nodded to the raven haired girl, "Yes. We were actually talking about it earlier with him. We would be happy to teach you."

"Same here." Red agreed as he tipped his cap.

"Cool~!" Leira squealed as she began to twirl around like a ballerina.

"We'll have to do it outside, though," He added, "I don't think the Professor would be happy if we did the training in his lab."

The girl nodded before she and Scruffy ran out the door with Red and Yellow following after them. They made their way to a wide open field as Red began to set a few pylons around, making a mimic version of an actual Pokémon battle field.

Red cleared his throat, "First off, we'll need to see what Pokémon you have with you."

The girl nodded, "Okay, teacher~!" She put her hands in her pockets and pulled out two Pokéballs. She held them close to her and happily shouted, "C'mon out, guys!" She threw the Pokéballs up in the air and watched as they opened up and white lights flew out from them. They collided into the ground and began to take shape.

The light on the left disappeared and revealed a quadrupedal felid Pokémon with a dark blue body covered in white fur. It had a ruff around its neck and chest, as well as a tuft on the top of its head adorned with a single blue-black oval. Its body was sleek and feline, making it look like it was well suited for life on the mountains. It's broad, circular feet are equipped with three claws each and spikes protruding from the heels of its hind legs and the elbows of its anterior legs. Its face was cat-like, had a pair of red eyes, and a scythe-like tail. The most distinguishing part of the Pokémon was the sickle-shaped growth on the right side of its head. It shook its body, having been in its Pokéball for a while and gave out a mighty cry, _"Absol!"_

The next one that soon appeared was definitely a Deoxys, except there were a few things about it that made it clear that it wasn't either one of the Deoxys they encountered before. The stripe on its face and the crystal were green, not purple, and it wore a dark blue-violet scarf around its neck. The two pairs of cord-like tendrils were now blue humanoid arms with five-fingered hands and a red shaped "Y" running down the entire length of the arm. It looked at each trainer before looking down at Leira, it's voice sounding vaguely mechanical.

Leira realized something upon seeing Deo and dug into the bag she brought from Celadon and pulled out the Deoxys doll. She held it up to Deo, who took it from her kindly and inspected it a few seconds. It turned its head back to her, curious about the gift, "I forgot that I bought that for you, Deo! It's so that you won't ever have to feel lonely."

The Deoxys looked at the doll for a few more moments before it lifted its other hand and placed it on top of Leira's head, gently ruffling her hair. From the sounds it was making, Red could easily tell that it was chuckling. Soon he heard Leira joining in on the laughter, and found himself chuckling at the sight.

Yellow could only watch with astonishment as she saw the Deoxys pick Leira up with its psychic powers and gently placed her on its shoulder. "You weren't kidding when you said you had a Deoxys with you." She said to Leira.

"I never tell a lie. Papa said that lying isn't a good thing and it gets people into trouble." She wrapped her arms around Deo's head, giving it a caring hug before she continued, "Plus, Deo is super friendly~! He would never hurt anyone. Well… no one except for meanies."

Yellow looked at the Absol as it walked over to the Poochyena to keep an eye on it, "And I take it that that Abosl's the same Absy back in Celadon?"

"Yep!" The girl exclaimed, "He's always quiet and rarely says anything, but he's also really smart! He always finds a way to cheer me up whenever I feel sad!"

Red had his hand cupped underneath his chin as he focused his attention directly on the three Pokémon before him. Out of the three of them, only two of them were a pure Dark-type, while Deo was a pure Psychic-type. While it is a good way to start with the number of Pokémon she has, there were still a lot of things she needed to know, including type difference. A full team of Pokémon made up of different types would give the trainer the upper hand depending on what Pokémon the opponent sends out. He lowered his hand and began to speak again, "Okay, Leira. Whenever you're ready."

Leira motioned for Deo to put her back down on the ground and gingerly walked up to Red, waiting for her lesson to begin.

"Now, the first thing you need to know about Pokémon is that they're more than just creatures that inhabit this world. They're our companions, our teammates, and life-long friends. A trainer with his or her Pokémon is kind of like a family, always taking care of each other and watching out for one another. They help each other when they need it, and are always there for moral support. Thinking of them as nothing more than tools or weapons to be used for personal gain is cruel and unjust." He bent down and looked at Leira right in her eyes, "I want you to take this into consideration and promise me that you will never think of Pokémon like that. The purpose of being a trainer is to develop a strong bond with your Pokémon and be friends with them, not think of them differently or look down on them. Promise?"

She held up her pinky up to his and face and exclaimed, "Pinky promise~!"

He could only laugh at this before he wrapped his pinky around hers and shake. He then got back up and proceeded with the lesson, "Alright, let's start with the basics. We first need to find out what moves each of your Pokémon can use."

Leira quickly raised her hand, "Oh, oh, oh! I know this one!" When she saw Red patiently waiting for an answer, she began, "Well, actually I have a hard time remembering them, so Papa wrote them down for me on this piece of paper!" She pulled out a note from her pocket and gave it to Red.

The note read out like this;

_Absy – Razor Wind, Shadow Ball, Double Team and Slash_

_ Scruffy – Bite, Growl, Tail Whip and Scratch_

_ Deo – Psychic, Shockwave, Hyper Beam and Psycho Boost_

As Red took this information into mind, he heard Leira speaking up again, "Papa knows a lot of things about Pokémon. He even taught Deo this really cool trick! I think it was… uhh… let's see… um…" She tapped her head again as she tried to remember what her Papa had shown her. It was so hard to remember that word. She had to ask her Papa several times what it was called again. "Manouevre? No. Manticala? No, that's not it. It started with an 'm'… maneuvay? Maneuvara? Maneu… maneuva… maneuver! That's it! Maneuver 25!"

At this command, Deo telekinetically lifted up several boulders and turned his arms back into tendrils. He touched each boulder and let loose a surge of electricity that fused with Psychic. He then raised the boulders till they were hovering above his head and reformed the tendrils back into an arm and started preparing a Psycho Boost. It fired it towards the ground up ahead, the four boulders surrounding it they were magnetized to one another thanks to the psychic energy. They crashed into the ground and let loose a hail of lightning and rock across the area.

Both Red and Yellow were caught off guard when Deo performed the attack and were staring at him with shock. They looked back at Leira as she quickly hid her hands behind her back and smiled sheepishly at them.

"Sorry~! I forgot Deo actually does it right after someone tells him to do that!" She looked at the ground, feeling ashamed about the mistake she made, "I'm sorry, Red."

"It's alright." Red told her, "It was an honest mistake. Lots of trainer's make it, including me and Yellow. Though it was a good thing you brought that up." He added.

She soon cheered up and raised her head up to face him with a small smile.

"Well… now that that's settled, let's continue on, shall we?"

"Yay~! More lessons!"

Red and Yellow smiled at the girl's enthusiasm. She was surely going to be a great trainer one day with that kind of enthusiasm.

* * *

><p>The rest of the afternoon had gone by very smoothly. Logan had at one point came outside and rested against the side of a tree that was close to where they were along with Saria, who brought some bottled water with her in case they were thirsty. Leira herself had proven to be a bit of a challenge to train, as she would often times get distracted by something or end up in her little world. Nevertheless, after several long hours, she finally learned the basic understandings of Pokémon; ranging from types, status problems, and feeding.<p>

Red had also learned a bit more about each of her Pokémon. She received her first Pokémon, Absy, on her birthday about two months ago. She had snuck into Logan's library (He also learned that Logan loves to read) and found a book about each kind of Pokémon. She found the page that had the Absol and instantly wished that she had one of her own, to which Logan had overheard and went off to another Pokémon world to get it. When he gave her the Pokéball that contained the Absol, she was overjoyed. He even heard that Amanda had actually taken a photo of her hugging the Absol, much to Absy's embarrassment.

She then received Poochy a few weeks after she got Absy. They went to the same Pokémon world that Logan went to and dealt with the Endless that were there. She got a Pokémon Egg from an elderly couple, which soon hatched and revealed the little Poochyena before her. She then began to raise the little Bite Pokémon by herself, seeing him like an adorable little puppy.

Her meeting with Deo was what really got his attention. On the same day she got Poochy, she got separated from Logan and ended up lost in a forest during the night. It was there that she ran into Deo, who she was at first scared of because of his appearance. After getting over her shock, she learned that Deo ended up on the world a few years ago and was trying to hide from everyone who wanted to capture him. She noticed the way he was injured and promised to help him. After she did, Deo began to trust her more and decided to come with her.

And now, as the sun started to set over the horizon, marking 6:45 PM, the training exercise finally ended as Leira lied down on the grass, letting it tickle the back of her neck and exposed arms. Even though she was glad that she was learning about Pokémon, she was glad that it was finally over.

"Guess somebody's a little tired." Red said as he noticed how Leira struggled to keep her eyes open.

She shook her head as she slowly climbed up to her feet, stumbling a few times before Yellow caught her. "Mmm… not tired… Just…" She yawned loudly as she stretched her arms out a bit.

"I think somebody is." Yellow chuckled before she began escorting Leira away from the training field, "C'mon, let's go meet up with Logan. I'm sure he would want to hear about how well you did in your-"

She stopped midsentence the moment she looked at where Logan was, and couldn't help but awe at the sight.

The Vanguard boy was sleeping against the side of the tree with his left leg bent closer to him and his arm placed on top of it. And he wasn't alone; Saria was resting against him with her head on his shoulder and her arm around his. The closer Yellow looked at them, the more she couldn't help but assume that the two were cuddling. For some reason, seeing the two of them sleep like this, they looked so… _peaceful_.

She was quickly brought out of her thoughts when she heard Red approaching her, "Should we wake them up?"

She shook her head, "No. I think we should let them stay like that for a little longer. It has been a long day for all of us."

They both agreed with her and left Logan and Saria where they were as they began making their way inside. Just as Leira stood in front of the door, she began to hear something.

She looked around, searching for whatever was making those strange noises before she faced the Viridian Forest. Feeling as though she was in some sort of trance, she walked away from the door and ran straight into the forest. Yellow saw this and cried out, "Leira, wait! Where are you going?" When Leira didn't look back to respond, she went after her, keeping her hand on her hat to prevent it from falling off as she ran past the bushes. Red followed after them moments later, making sure that neither of them would get hurt from whatever was out there.

* * *

><p>Leira pushed away a few branches that were in front of her as she continued moving to where the sound was coming from. It sounded like something was in pain, and it was growing louder the closer she got to it. She was definitely on the right track. She pushed back some more branches as Yellow followed closely behind her.<p>

Yellow was surprised at how fast the girl was moving. She had seen children at her age moving around so much with all that energy inside of them, but this was something else. She heard movement beside her and saw Red finally catching up with her with Pika running alongside him. The look in his eyes told her that he was just as confused as she was about Leira's behaviour.

After a few minutes had gone by, the two trainers finally caught up to Leira, who was hiding behind a large bush. The sound was not only close by, but it sounded terrible. It sounded plaintive and mournful, and made a distinctive rattling noise. They both went up to Leira, who was mumbling to herself if she should check and see what it is or wait a little longer. Yellow decided to do it for her and peered over the bushes and looked at who the owner of those noises belonged to.

A small, golden-brown Pokémon with two dorsal fins and a light brown belly was sitting down on the grass, tears streaming down its triangular eyes. Two small claws, one on each hand, served as thumbs for it and had two large nails that made up its toes. What was really quite strange about it was that it wore a skull with two rounded horns on its head like a helmet, masking almost its entire face except for its eyes and the small area surrounding them. It had what looked like a large bone in its hand. It reared its head back and cried, allowing her to see its brown snout as well as the two fangs that protruded from its mouth.

She instantly recognized the Pokémon as a Cubone. She had only seen a few Cubones on her adventures, including the one that belonged to her friend Crystal, who had a unique star-shaped crack on both sides of its skulls. She was confused, however, as to why there was one here in the Viridian Forest and, more importantly, so close to Pallet Town. Cubones were infamous for their loneliness and their tendencies to stay away from all forms of society. As such, sightings of them across Kanto were very rare. What was the reason for it being so close to the town?

She heard the mournful crying once more before she retreated back behind the bushes. She looked at both Red and Leira and spoke, "It's a Cubone."

She received both a confirming nod from Red and a confused look from Leira, "Cu…bone? What's that?"

"A Cubone is a rare Ground-type Pokémon that can only be found here in Kanto. They mostly live up in the mountains or in caves." Red began to explain to her, "Their known as the Lonely Pokémon because of their tendency to be alone."

She looked over the bush at the crying Pokémon and asked again, "Why does it want to be alone? Doesn't it have a family to go to?" When neither trainer answered, she looked back at them and noticed their worried looks. She was growing worried, "Doesn't it?"

Yellow sadly shook her head, "…I'm afraid not."

"Wha…"

Red decided that it would be best to tell her, even though he didn't want to, "See the skull that it wears on its head, and the bone in its hand?" When he saw the girl nodding slowly, he continued, "Those belong to its mother." Her eyes immediately flew open in shock, "Cubones become traumatized when their mothers' pass away, so they take their skulls and wear it on their heads so that they would never forget them. But every night, it breaks down and cries, mourning for its mother."

She looked at the Cubone again, this time overwhelmed with sadness. "So it's… all alone?"

"It's terrible, when you think about it." He added, "Losing someone very close to you and seeing it happen; it's understandable why people would want to be by themselves when it happens. They want to take the time to forget what happened and try to focus on the future, but with conflicting emotions in the way, it's almost impossible for that to happen."

Yellow began to hear the Cubone crying again and turned to face Red before whispering to him, "What should we do, Red? We can't just leave it here." Just seeing the crying Cubone was enough to send her to tears.

"I know. Maybe we could bring it to Crystal. She might know what to do-"

He didn't get the chance to finish, for Leira stood up and began moving closer to the Cubone. Yellow reached out to stop her, but she was already far from her reach, "Leira! Wait!" She called out quietly, not wanting to frighten the Ground-type.

By the time Leria had gotten close to the Cubone did it realize that there was someone else with it. It looked up with teary eyes and saw the child within a few feet's distance away from it. It flinched at the sight of a human and quickly got up on its feet, raising the bone slightly in front of its face to make itself look more intimidating.

Unfortunately, she saw right through its ploy and meekly waved to the Pokémon, "Hi there." She said quietly.

The Cubone took a few steps back at the sight of her as its hands began to shake, obviously afraid of her. She noticed its uneasiness and took a step forward, "It's okay. I won't hurt you."

It didn't see it that way. Instead, the Pokémon quickly swung the bone across the ground, whipping up a large dirt cloud that obscured Leira's vision. As she shielded her eyes, the Cubone quickly ran off and hid underneath a small den that was beneath a mighty oak tree. When her vision cleared up, she looked around for it before she saw the white skull helmet giving away its position and slowly walked up to it again, this time taking slower steps so that she wouldn't frighten it again.

"It's okay, little guy. I'm not going to hurt you." She said as softly as she could. This only made the Lonely Pokémon back up even further in its hiding place until its dorsal fins hit the dirt wall. She noticed this and immediately stopped what she was doing. Thinking about what her Papa would do, she knelt down on the grass a little distance away from the tree. "I know how you feel." She said with the same soft tone like before.

The Cubone didn't say anything, but it was curious about what she meant and decided to continue to listening to her, "When my parents died, I felt scared. I thought that I was going to be all alone for the rest of my life." The memories of that tragic event played through her head as she began to wipe the tears out of her eyes, whimpering quietly at the same time, "I always felt that no one would be there for me, and that they would just abandon me."

A soft smile soon appeared on her face, "But that was before I met Logan."

Both Red and Yellow grew more interested at what Leira was saying and chose to stay where they were to continue listening. Even the Cubone became interested. While it was incapable of speaking the human's language, it still understood her, so it surprised the Pokémon that she knew what it was feeling at the moment.

"He took me in when no one else would. He looked after me and protected me like my father used to. He loved me and treated me like I was his own." She bowed her head slightly as her eyes began to shed a few tears, "He understood the pain that I was going through. He never knew his mother because she passed away when he was still a baby, and his father passed away when he tried to protect him from the monsters."

The two trainers knew that she was referring to the Endless. While they knew that the Endless were somehow responsible for some of the things that happened to Logan as evident to what he said back at Celadon, they never knew that he lost his father by them. From the life story he gave to them yesterday, they had assumed that his father was still alive. That must have been a heavy blow to him to see that happening.

"But even when he never had a mother to raise him, he had someone who raised him like her own, and that was Auntie Lucy~! From what Papa told me, Auntie sounded super cool and super friendly, like an angel! He learned everything about life from Auntie, and how important each and every person is and how you should never judge them by appearance. Sometimes, the scariest looking person can be the nicest person you can ever meet." She scooted a little closer to the tree as she continued, "I know because that's what Papa is! He may look scary and act like he doesn't care about a lot of things, but deep down he knows what it's like to lose the people you once cared about. That's why he always tries to do everything by himself, so he won't ever have to lose anyone else."

They all continued listening to her as she moved closer to the Cubone, "I know it's difficult to try and forget everything that's happened, and having nightmares of seeing them leave you every day, but that can all change if you talk to someone about it." She was now right upon the entrance of the Cubone's hiding place and had her hand held out, "That's why I won't leave your side. I want to help you, but you need to trust me. Pretty pwease~?"

The Cubone shifted its eyes from her hand to her smiling face before it hesitantly crawled out of its hiding place. It stopped when it was just a foot away from her and looked at her hand once more before it slowly lifted its left hand. Twice it pulled back, fearing that Leira couldn't be trusted even after what she said. Yet despite this, something inside it told it that the human could be trusted. It reached out once again and, this time without hesitating, placed its hand on Leira's.

It looked up and saw the human still smiling as she bent down and wrapped her arms around it, pulling it into a gentle hug, "See? All you need to do is put your trust in someone, and they'll always be there for you."

Red and Yellow decided that now was the time to get out from their hiding place and approached the small child. The Cubone was the first to notice them and buried its head within Leira's chest, afraid of the new humans. This only made the girl giggle as she rubbed the back of the skull helmet.

They both chuckled at the sight. Yellow couldn't help but smile the whole time at the sight of Leira hugging a Cubone. She reminded her so much of herself when she was little. She placed her hand on her shoulder and gently shook it, "Come on, Leira. Let's go back to the Professor's." She said politely. As much as she wanted to let the two stay like that a little longer, it was already starting to get late and Logan was bound to worry about her the moment he wakes up.

She didn't get a response. Curiously, she moved around until she was looking at Leira's face and noticed that her eyes were closed. A closer look revealed that she was asleep. This made her smile even wider.

"They look so cute together." She commented as she brushed aside a strand of Leira's black hair that was on her face and looped it over her ear.

Red couldn't help but agree. He looked at his friend and whispered, "We should probably get back. The others are probably already there by now."

She was about to agree with him before she saw the Cubone turning its head and looking right at her. It wiped away a few of its tears that still remained and spoke to her, _"Cubone? (Is she leaving?)"_

Yellow nodded her head, "Yes. It's time for us to go back home."

_"Cubone? (Can I come with?)"_ The Pokémon asked.

She didn't give it a second thought and nodded her head, "Of course. I think Leira would really like that."

The Cubone nodded its head as it gently removed itself out of Leira's arms and watched as she was placed on Red's back in a piggyback. When they made sure that Red had a good grip on her, they began making their way back to Pallet Town.

* * *

><p>The sounds of wild Pokémon calling in the night woke Saria up from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes and looked around her surroundings. She saw the clouds hiding a few of the billions of stars that dotted across the night sky and the curved shape of the moon shining brightly through the leaves of the tree she sat underneath. The air had gotten slightly colder as she began to notice the lights within Professor Oak's lab.<p>

She felt something clutching onto her left hand and looked down to inspect it. When she saw that she was holding onto Logan's hand, she felt something warm in her face and retracted her hand very quickly. She wasn't sure what this strange feeling was, yet for some reason she only felt this way whenever she was around Logan. What could it possibly mean?

She heard rustling coming from the side and turned around to see Red and Yellow carrying a sleeping Leira on the male trainer's back. A small, golden-brown creature was walking beside Yellow, wearing what looked like a skull as a helmet and a large bone in its hand. She knew that it wasn't an Endless, so it must be one of the 'Pokémon' that inhabited this world. She saw movement right beside her and saw Logan starting to wake up.

She got up from where she sat and approached the two trainers'. They noticed her and waved. "Hey there." Red was the first to speak, "Did you have a good sleep?"

Saria knew that he was referring to her sleeping beside Logan, but it was from the way he said it with that curious tone that made her curious, but she nodded her head nonetheless. "About as good as any other individual." She noticed the small trail of drool coming out of Leira's mouth and smiled, "It seems like someone else has been enjoying their sleep, too."

"Yeah. She's had a busy day."

"I take it has something to do with the Pokémon that is accompanying you?" She motioned to the Cubone that was hiding behind Yellow.

"It's a long story." Yellow said as she motioned for the Ground-type to introduce itself to Saria. "How's Logan doing?"

She heard grumbling from behind and saw Logan walking up to them half-awake while he was scratching the back of his head. "See for yourself."

They waited until Logan stopped right beside them and noticed Leira on Red's back. He looked at each trainer before his eyes settled on the Cubone, who immediately hid behind Yellow again. He pondered for a moment as he tried to connect the pieces before he spoke, "She hasn't given you much trouble, has she?"

"Not at all." Yellow replied.

He nodded to her before Red handed Leira over to him. He held her in his arms and rubbed her back as he felt her breathing against his neck, "It seems like she had fun with training under your watch."

"You can say that again. She did really well for her first time." Red spoke up.

"Well, thanks for watching over her."

Red tipped his hand in acknowledgement, "What are friends for?"

Logan turned around till his back was now turned and started making his way back to the lab. He stopped after a few feet and called back, "You two should probably get some rest yourselves. You look like you need it."

"Okay." Yellow answered.

He began moving again as Saria walked alongside him. Surprisingly, after some hesitation, the Cubone followed after them, only stopping when Saria bent down and picked it up. As Red and Yellow watched the two chatting with each other, a thought began to cross their minds, and they could not help but look at one another to see if their suspicion was correct.

"For some reason, they look like a married couple." Red began.

Yellow nodded her head in agreement, "They seem to like each other a lot." When she took another look at Saria, her mood suddenly changed. "Hey Red. Doesn't Saria remind you of anyone?"

He also looked at Saria and realized that she, indeed, seem somewhat familiar, "Yeah… she does. Almost like she's…" They both looked at one another and began to laugh. "No, it couldn't be. We're probably still tired after everything that's happened."

"You're probably right." Yellow replied before she started making her way over to Blue's house. Even though her parents live on Sevii Islands, she wanted to live here in Pallet Town and start a new life. That, and she wanted to be closer to Green since they were 'dating', as she told her. She turned around and waved at him, "Well, I hope you have a good sleep, Red. Good night."

"You too, Yellow." He returned the wave and made his way to his home.

Everything grew quiet once more as the lights within the homes turned off and the people inside made their way to their beds, deserving a much needed rest. Yet one Viridian girl, who was already nestled in a guest bedroom wearing a set of orange pyjamas, was about to find out that it would be a difficult task, as she was unaware of the terror that she would soon face.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: Chapter 10 done! My god, this took a lot longer than it should have. This whole summer vacation so far, I have played Asura's Wrath non-stop until I got a freakin' Platinum Trophy (First one I ever got one, too!) on it, a lot of Fallout 3, beating all the side mission except for two, Point Lookout, and currently on Water's of Life main mission, and Dynasty Warriors 7. Add that and the insane temperature with one of the days being a total of 35 Degrees, and it's just one massive time gap between the last chapter and this one. Fortunately, I got it done just before the end of July.**

**Ugh… I really don't know how good this chapter is. I gave up on whether I messed up on something or if it was decent enough about halfway through. And don't get me started with the conversation between Alpha, Red and Yellow about what Logan really was. That was a nightmare. I really need a vacation.**

**When I was thinking about what Pokémon best represented Leira, Cubone immediately came into mind. They both have no parents, they're scared of seeing new people and they have difficulty trusting others. So if any Pokémon deserved a spotlight in this story, it would be Cubone. I feel so bad for the little Pokémon, so I thought that maybe having Leira meeting a Cubone would be an excellent way to relieve everyone after the massive killing spree Logan went on in the last chapter.**

**Originally, this chapter was intended to be a bit longer, but for the sake of my sanity AND everyone else's, I scrapped the idea.**

**I gave it a lot of thought, and have finally made a decision. Revenant's Tale: Orange Blossoms will be 26 Chapters long, plus an Epilogue. There might be one or two more Chapters added, but for now there will be a total of 27 (Including Epilogue), so you guys will be having a lot to read.**

**The next chapter WILL definitely come out next week or within a few days after this is posted. So stay tuned.**

**Also, if you guys are a big fan of Let's Players like Azureblade49, Icrangirl, Chuggaaconroy, NintendoCapriSun, ProtonJonSA and many more, I have started a new story up on my DeviantART page! It is called Let's Play Adventures. Bit of a warning though, there's a lot of swearing in it (Mostly by Jaymonius' case, since he's a living motor mouth). So that's TWO stories I'm currently working on. My sanity is going to be crap by the time this is done.)**

**~ Neoshadow574 (Shadow-War on )**


	12. The Encounter

**(A/N: A warning to all of you as this chapter contains frightening images and blood. You have been warned.)**

**~ Neoshadow574**

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 11: The Encounter<span>**

_Yellow's Mind, Normal POV…_

A cold and dreadful feeling wrapped itself around Yellow's small body. The air was thick and made it difficult to breathe. Wherever she looked, she could only see an endless expanse of darkness. Her body felt light for some reason, and it was only when she looked down that she noticed that she wasn't standing on anything. She was floating in midair, above what she thought was water, as the tip of her foot touched the surface and sent a few ripples around it.

She tried to think about how she ended up here. She had gone off to bed after what happened throughout the day, and somehow she was here. She knew right away that this wasn't her dream, since they usually had Red in them. The presence she felt in the air reminded her of someone she knew, but it was too faint for her to tell who it was exactly.

An ear-splitting scream shattered her train of thought. She placed her hands over her ears to keep her ears from bleeding. The sound was so horrible. It sounded like a mix between a chalkboard being scratched, a really loud engine and an annoyed Exploud, all mixed together with a sickly, demonic voice. A white light appeared in front of her and, before she knew it, hundreds of images flew at her. They all appeared for a split-second before they were replaced by another. She couldn't tell what each one of them were about, but the voices that she heard started to explain them as her eyes darted from one image to the next;

_I fear that he may have developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of__…_

_ Let us all join together and pray for her safe journey to the Heavens, where she will be with the Almighty Father__…_

_ He hasn't been himself since the incident__…_

_…__look in his eyes, and I see nothing. Nothing at all. It's like he's completely given up on everything__…_

_ He has been suffering through many nightmares and illusions as a result of the incident. What's more, is that he continually blames himself for it and has locked himself with all his grieving bottled up. If nothing is done soon, I fear he might do something that he will soon regret._

_ I fear that his anger is growing worse by the day as a result of what happened__…_

These voices… none of them she recognized. And none of them made any sense. What incident were they talking about? Who was this _'He'_ that they were referring to? And what exactly did this all have to do with her?

She was about to speak up and ask what was going on before another voice appeared. This one sounded so young, yet the tone sounded awfully familiar;

_I don't need anyone's sympathy. I don't need anyone's help! I can take care of myself. I just__… want to be left alone… Want to be… alone…_

She shook her head. No. No, it couldn't be. But how? How is this possible?

She didn't have enough time as the images began to fade away, only to be replaced seconds later by new ones. A continuous, static-like sound began to ring in her ears as she looked at the closest image. It looked like a darkened TV screen with a face on it, all distorted by the static that made it up. It lacked any eyes, as they were nothing but black pits, and a wicked smirk that was all stitched up. A closer look revealed that the image had large splotches of blood running across it. The same could be said about all the others; some of them even having marks that looked like someone ran their fingers along them. Eventually the screens began to grow more bloody until they were nothing but stark red, and even then the screens began to leak the blood out of the cracks that began to appear on them

She had no idea what was going on, but the sound… Dear Arceus, that sound. She heard it before, back in Celadon, but she thought that she was still tired from the day before. But now that she was hearing it now, inside of her dream of all places…

She heard something move behind her and quickly turned around, her right hand placed over her heart as she felt it beating heavily against her chest…

…and saw a large, disembodied head of the same creature she encountered before screaming right at her face, the blood pouring out of its eyes like waterfalls.

She screamed almost as loud as the head did before she felt herself falling. She felt the water all around her strangling her as she tried so hard to breathe, but to no avail. Soon, her vision began to tunnel, and the desperate need for air forced her to open her mouth. The water wasted no time and filled up her lungs in an instant, removing any traces of her oxygen in seconds. The world around her began to grow dark and the chilling embrace of death began to ensnare her, refusing to let go as she continued to drown within the watery grave.

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><p><em>Guest Bedroom, Blue's House, Normal POV…<em>

Yellow screamed at the top of her lungs as she bolted upright from her bed. The scream was loud enough to startle Chuchu, who was sleeping beside her, and make her stumble off the bed.

She looked around the room quickly to see where she was and began to calm down when she saw the familiar furniture. She placed her hand over her heart and felt it slowing down its beat. She took a series of deep breathes as she tried to calm her nerves. She looked at the clock that was at her bedside. 1:34 AM. She shook her head. Since when did her nightmares became so terrifying?

The door swung wide open and she saw Blue standing there, wearing a set of blue pyjamas that consisted of a pair of shorts and t-shirt. She was holding onto a Pokéball in one hand and a wooden bat in the other. The look on her face clearly told Yellow that she heard the scream.

"I heard screaming! Are you okay, Yellow?! Did somebody break in?" Blue asked as she stepped into the room and looked around, the bat raised threateningly above her head.

The Viridian girl shook her head, slightly intimidated at the thought of Blue using a bat as a weapon, "I-I'm okay… B-Blue. I… I just had a bad dream."

This surprised her friend as she looked back at her in surprise, "Really?" She flicked the bedroom light on and set both the Pokéball and the bat on the dresser nearby and sat down on the bed, "From the way you screamed, I thought you were being attacked by some hockey mask wearing psycho with a machete or one of those Endless creeps."

She opened her mouth to respond, but quickly closed it. She couldn't tell her what she saw. She was still trying to figure out if she was hallucinating or if she was that tired. But the nightmare… her drowning… it all felt so real. And that face…

She shook her head rapidly. No. She dealt with things much worse than this. And it was just a silly nightmare. It couldn't possibly be real in any way.

…Or was it?

That thought send a chill running up her spine. She didn't want to find out if it was true. She looked back at Blue who was still waiting for a response and pulled the blanket a little bit closer to her, her grip tightening in the process, "No. It was only a bad dream. B-But I'm feeling better now, so you don't need to worry!"

"No need to worry?" Blue repeated, "Yellow, you're shaking like a leaf! Like you've seen a ghost or something worse!"

She had a very strong point there, and Yellow couldn't help but admit that it was true. Her hands were struggling to keep their grip on the blanket, her chest was panting heavily and quickly, even her eyes were shaking with fear. She tried to shake it away, but it still remained.

"I'm fine, Blue. Really." She bowed her head slightly and lied back down on her bed, "It's just been a really busy day." She looked back at her and smiled softly, "But I do appreciate you being concerned about me. That means a lot."

This caused Blue to giggle as she reached out and ruffled the younger girl's blonde hair, "You're like a sister to me, Yellow. Of course I'd be concerned about you." She kissed her on the forehead before she got up from the bed and walked over to the doorway, picking up the Pokéball and the bat off the dresser along the way. She looked back one last time at Yellow before she added, "Well, if you're really sure there's nothing wrong…"

"I'm sure."

"Okay." She said before she turned the lights off and closed the door behind her, leaving Yellow in the dark once more.

Blue stood out in the hallway, sighing heavily. She couldn't help but feel that Yellow was hiding something from her. She knew that she was lying; her naïveté and innocent nature made it nearly impossible for her to make even the simplest of lies. But the way that she tried so hard to hide whatever it was that was bothering her made her feel worried.

Sometimes she couldn't understand Yellow, and she was the kind of girl who wore her heart like a sleeve. What was it that she was hiding?

She moved her hand over her mouth and yawned loudly. Whatever it was, she would find out about it tomorrow. She walked down the hallway and opened the door to her bedroom, leaving the door slightly open this time in case Yellow had another nightmare attack and plopped onto her bed. She would have to talk about what happened to Green tomorrow and see what he knows. But for now, she needed wanted some sleep.

* * *

><p><em>Guest Bedroom, 1:47 AM…<em>

Yellow had been staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours, even though it's only been ten minutes. She had tried everything she knew that would make her fall asleep; counting Mareeps, listened to the ambience outside, staring at the ceiling to force herself to sleep out of sheer boredom; everything that she could possibly think of and none of them worked. Her left hand began to clench tightly as she felt a single tear fall from her eye.

Chuchu saw it right as Yellow rubbed her eyes and looked at her with worry, _"Chu? (Are you okay?)"_

She looked at her Pokémon and nodded slowly, "I'm okay. Don't worry. I'm just… having some trouble sleeping."

_"Pika? (You sure?)"_ The Pikachu asked again.

"Yes. Now go back to sleep, Chuchu. I'm sure you and Pika have something planned for tomorrow." Yellow added.

Remembering the plans she made with her mate, Chuchu quickly hopped onto her makeshift bed and went to sleep instantly.

Yellow looked back at the clock. 1:49 AM. She really wanted to sleep, but then she remembered the reason why she started to cry. She was afraid that the nightmare would come back if she tried to fall back asleep again. While it was normal for her to have nightmares and be somewhat terrified of them, this one was enough to not only make her develop a new fear of giant screaming disembodied heads, but also made her wish she never went back to sleep period so she would never have to see it again.

Her body, however, had other ideas as she felt her muscles slackened and her eyes slowly beginning to grow heavy. She tried to fight off the urge to sleep, but it proved to be too strong for her and gave up midway, letting the sleep wash over her like a sheet.

As she drifted off into dreamland, she was relieved that the nightmare didn't come back. Instead, it was replaced by one of her more 'happy' dreams of her and Red training with their Pokémon, and having fun.

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><p><strong>(AN: Short, simple and up to the point. That is exactly what this chapter is. This is going to be the shortest chapter in the entire story, which is quite rare since I've mostly done 13-24 pages per chapter.**

**To Yellow fans out there, let me be quick to say I am sorry for putting Yellow in this kind of predicament, and I also apologize to those who might have been disturbed at the nightmare. The idea came from a game called Cry of Fear, where something similar occured at the very beginning of the game. This was literally my first attempt at doing nightmares and horror, and I must say I did pretty good. If you think reading it was bad, try to visualize it in your head, then you'll feel exactly what Yellow felt.**

**Also, NO THIS IS NOT A YURI FIC IF THAT IS WHAT YOU SICKOS ARE THINKING! *cough* Sorry about that. But really, I wrote it that way between Blue and Yellow because I was trying to make Blue as a responsible (Emphasize on 'responsible') big sister to Yellow. I have seen TV shows and anime where something similar happened between siblings (Not in that kind of way, again), and I thought that it was a sweet thing, so I just had to write it down. Just telling you right now, since people nowadays automatically jump to conclusions without actually reading it.**

**So I apologize if I might have creeped some of you out by this, but it was basically the main goal of this chapter.**

****PS:** Bonus cookie to who can tell who Blue was referring to when she said 'hockey mask wearing psycho with a machete'!)**


	13. Moment of Peace

**Chapter 12: Moment of Solace**

It was about 9:43 AM by the time Yellow woke up, and when she saw what time it was, she quickly scampered off her bed and changed into her clothes. She didn't bother brushing her hair and instead tied it up into a ponytail as fast as she could before putting her straw hat on. She grabbed her pouch and her Pokémon before she bolted out the door.

She saw Red chatting with Green before he went off to the direction of Viridian City, most likely heading for the Gym in case there were any trainers waiting for a Gym Battle. Amanda and Blue were in some sort of conversation with Saria. Brennan appeared to be playing a game of tag with Leira and Scruffy to keep the girl occupied. The only people that were missing were Professor Oak, Logan and the rest of his friends.

She decided to go see Red first and began making her way over to him. But as soon as she took a few steps, she felt a wave of fatigue hit her. She placed her hand on her forehead and shook her head before she continued moving. It didn't really help that she woke up in the middle of the night. That kind of thing messes up people's sleep, and she wasn't too pleased about it.

Regardless, she soon joined up with Red and saw the familiar smile on his face disappear instantly when he noticed the way she looked, "You okay Yellow? You look a little pale."

She waved her hand off to him, "I'm fine, Red. I-I just didn't get much sleep last night." She half-lied before she proceeded to ask him, "Where is everyone? Shouldn't they be up by now?"

Red thought for a moment before he replied, "Well… last I remembered, Brady said something about running for a bit and took off, Alpha left earlier with Professor Oak to accompany him to the Indigo Plateau to discuss about those things we encountered, David I have no idea where he is, and Green's heading for Pewter City to inform Brock of the situation. Erika already told Misty of what happened, and I gave Blaine a quick heads up to let him know."

"So they're going to found out about the Endless?" She asked again.

"Yep. After what happened in Celadon, I'm willing to bet they'll be keeping their eyes open for anymore of them."

Yellow nodded her head in agreement. That sounded like a reasonable response. The more people who were aware of what was going on and the creatures that were running about, the safer they would be. She didn't even want to know how she would react if she found out one of her friends was killed by those things.

Speaking of friends, she noticed that Red had forgotten about someone and quickly reminded him, "Hey, do you know where Logan is?"

"Logan?" He repeated before he cupped his hand underneath his chin, thinking deeply, "…Can't say I do. I haven't seen him since yesterday." He looked over at where Saria was and smiled, "Maybe you can ask Saria. She's always hanging around with him. Maybe she might know."

"Alright." She said as she began to walk away from Red. She only took a couple of steps before stopping and looking back at him, "You're not curious about why I'm wondering where he is?"

"A little." He replied before a playful smile was stretched across his face, "Why? Does somebody have a little crush on him?" He teased.

Her face turned beet red and she frantically shook her head, "N-N-N-No! I do not! I-I don't even think of him in that kind of way!" She lowered her head and mumbled quietly to him, "It's just… Haven't you noticed anything _different_ about him? Like… something out of place?"

Red thought for a moment before replying, "He has been acting rather strange, lately." His mind suddenly sparked as he remembered the conversation he had with the Vanguard from yesterday, "Oh yeah! He seemed rather angry about something, too. I'm not sure what exactly, but maybe that could be it."

She sighed heavily, "I don't know why, but I just have this weird feeling that whatever it is that's bothering him, it seems to be affecting him. The day when we met him, he seemed fined, but now… he looks like he's in pain."

"He just recovered from being stabbed in the chest, Yellow." He reminded her. "I'd be in pain too if I was in his shoes."

"I know… but still, I really think we should go talk with him. He may be hiding something that's causing it and he doesn't want us to find out."

"Why would he do that?"

She shook her head, "I… I don't know. I just know that he might." They both looked at each other for a few more moments before another blush began to creep up on Yellow's face. She squeaked and turned around, hiding her face from Red and spoke timidly, "I-I-I'll go and ask Saria where he might be."

"Alright." He replied.

She turned around once more and made her way over to where the female Vanguard was, who was still in the middle of a discussion with Blue and Amanda. They had all recently found out from Amanda during Leira's Pokémon training that Saria was also a Vanguard, but was suffering from a case of amnesia. The farthest memory that she could recall was about six years ago, when she was ten, and she couldn't remember anything else. She even told them that Saria had the Vanguard symbol on her right shoulder blade, similar to how Logan had one on his back.

She didn't know why she was worrying about Logan, of all people. Even without a Pokémon and little knowledge about the world he was on, he had no problems with fending himself from any threat. And he could definitely make even the most ferocious Pokémon flee from him. But there was just something about him, something _off_ about his nature, that was really worrying her. And she had a good feeling that it was connected to that _thing_ she saw in her dream.

Still, why was she getting so worked up when Red was teasing her? She saw Logan as a good friend and all, but that was about it. There was nothing really special between them, no feelings being shared between the two. In general, they both treated each other like normal people, and when you're someone born with powers from the Viridian Forest and have faced countless villains and saved the world a few times, that means a whole lot to her. Plus, they only met about two days ago, and all they did then was have that discussion about her reason for still wearing her hat and his view on bravery.

She said that to herself numerous, but in reality the image of her trying to give CPR to Logan after pulling him out of the lake kept flashing through her mind, making her blush grow even more. She pulled the hat further down until it was covering half of her face and shook her head profusely. She really didn't want to remember that, of all things. Had it been Red, it would have been a completely different story, and one that she would have enjoyed, but since it wasn't…

She was so lost in her moment that she accidentally bumped into Saria. She stumbled back a bit before looking up at the Vanguard, quickly apologizing. Strangely, though, she didn't seem to notice the Viridian girl. She seemed mostly focused on the conversation that she was having with the other two girls, and from the way it sounded, it was definitely a heated one.

"For the last time, I do not think of Logan in _that_ kind of way!" She stated very loudly towards the two girls in front of her.

"Stop trying to hide it, silly~!" Blue replied back, "We know aboutyour _'special'_ feelings for him, so why won't you just admit that it's true?"

"Because it is not true, that is why!"

"Saria, we all know about it." Amanda said, "Back in Celadon, when Logan was stabbed by that Endless, you were the only one who screamed out his name and tried to save him. We've seen him get impaled a few times before, but every time that it happens, you're always the one who tries to help him."

Yellow cringed at what she was hearing. So Logan was impaled in the chest a few times before? No wonder why he seemed a little annoyed after that. But she became interested in the conversation and continued eavesdropping.

"Logan is the only person who is capable of saving all the worlds from the Endless and the Brotherhood!" Saria shouted, "If he were to die, then so will our hopes of winning this war! As his Guide, it is my sworn duty to ensure Logan's safety and his well-being! I am doing this because he needs my assistance, not because I am in love with him!"

She was surprised at what she was hearing. That was what this whole thing was about? That she was in love with Logan? _Isn't he already in love with someone else? The girl that was on the photo with him… What was her name…? Sol! That's it!_ She exclaimed in her mind.

She focused back on the conversation as Amanda continued, "Yes, but you admit that you are _close_ with him and you rarely ever leave his side. And whenever he gets injured, you never leave his side until he starts feeling better. When you think about it, it sounds like you really care a lot about him, even more than a friend should."

Saria's face began to grow red in embarrassment as she folded her arms, "Th-that may be, but that still does not mean that I am in love with him. He already loves someone else, and I can never take that away from him."

"Aha! So you _do _like Logan in that kind of way~!" Blue smiled mischievously, "I think we have our answer!"

The Vanguard girl raised her hand up to her head and groaned, wondering why people like Blue and Amanda were so persistent about these kinds of things. Granted, she was familiar with the term and concept of 'love' and many other emotions, but she didn't fully understand them like her friends. She was already aware about the 'love for friends and family', courtesy of Logan, but the general concept of love between two people was something beyond her understanding. She was already confused enough with learning all of these new terms and lifestyles about humans, she didn't want to deal with this problem.

It wasn't until she finally noticed Yellow standing beside her and saw the young trainer staring at her curiously. A plan began to form in her head, and she couldn't help but smile inwardly. _Time to get myself out of this mess._ "Yellow!" She exclaimed, her tone unusually happy, "Just the person I actually wanted to talk to!"

Before Yellow could say anything, she felt Saria placing her hands on her shoulders, turning her around and shepherding her away from the others. "Come on, let us go! We do not want to be late to miss out on one of those Pocketmon Battles!" She was fake laughing, something that she wasn't very good at. In fact, she wasn't good at laughing at all. But she had to at least come up with something that would make the situation seem believable.

Yellow was unsure of what was going on before Saria leaned her head close to her, "Just play along for a little bit. When we are out of range from those two, then we will talk."

She nodded her head, aware of her friend's predicament, and was taken to a reasonably good distance away from Blue and Amanda. When she saw the two mentioned girls parting ways, she felt Saria letting go and heard her sighing heavily.

"Whew. I thought for sure they would never stop." She said before she looked down at the yellow haired girl, "I thank you for your timely arrival, Yellow Caballero."

Yellow was even more confused than she was before, and couldn't help but voice out her thoughts, "What was that all about?"

She saw her folding her arms again before replying, "Those two keep telling me that I have these 'special' feelings for Logan, when clearly I do not."

The topic became more interesting to Yellow, and she couldn't help but ask as well, "Well… do you?"

She averted her gaze away from her and looked at the ground, her hand gripping onto her arm, "I respect and admire him for his bravery and selflessness, and he is an avid leader whenever we need him. He is a wonderful friend and an excellent source of inspiration, but the thing is; I do not see him in _that_ kind of way. I like him, but I do not _like_ him." She moved her fingers in an air quote as she said that. "We are merely friends. That is all." She shook her head again, "I just fail to understand why Amanda and Blue would be so interested about this. We may be close to one another, but that is mostly because I am his guide and therefore must teach him everything he needs to know about the Endless and our people's way of life."

She realized that she was rambling again and apologized, "Oh, forgive me. I was so focused on this stupid topic that I had completely forgotten about why you came to me in the first place. You wanted to see me about something?"

The Healer was surprised at Saria's sudden change of expression, but quickly regained her composure and spoke, "Y-Yes. Do you know where Logan might be?"

The Vanguard girl looked at her curiously, "Why are you looking for Logan? Do you perhaps harbour the feelings of love for him?"

"Why does everybody think that I love Logan?!" She blurted out, "I don't even see him that way! The only person that I actually love is-"

"Red."

She stopped her rambling immediately after Saria said that. She turned around to look at her and noticed, with some difficulty since she didn't have a visible mouth like Logan, what looked like a smirk across her face. She started to grow nervous. Did Logan really break their promise and told her about her love for Red?

"You have nothing to worry about, Yellow Caballero." She reassured the young trainer, "Logan is not the only one who can see into the hearts of others."

Yellow's eyes flew wide open in shock, "Wait… you mean you can see the same thing he can?!"

"It is not just me. Every Vanguard is gifted with this ability upon birth. How else do you think we make such good peacemakers?" She chuckled slightly at her joke. She noticed Yellow's shocked expression and reassured her again, "Do not worry, Yellow. I will not tell anyone else about this. It is how you humans say 'a secret between friends'".

Yellow breathed out a sigh of relief. She was so scared for a second there. Her friends really needed to stop doing that before she said something that would further embarrass herself.

"If you are curious as to where Logan went, I am afraid I do not know." Saria explained, "He wanted some time alone to gather up his thoughts and left a while ago."

"So you don't know where he is?" A nod from Saria was her only reply. "I see. Well, I guess Red and I will have to talk with him until he comes back."

Saria was about to ask her what it was she was talking about before she heard a ringing sound. Her right pocket began to vibrate against her leg. She reached down into her shorts and pulled out a small communication device and pressed the button. A blue, holographic image of Alpha's head appeared and waited for her to respond, "What is it?"

**"I thought I should let you know that I picked up Logan's signal while making my way to the Indigo Plateau with Professor Oak."** He answered before his head vanished and was replaced with an overhead map of the entire Kanto Region. A flashing blip was over a city east of where Pallet Town was. For some reason, the location looked strangely familiar. **"It seems that he's gone back to pay our dear friend Erika a visit. Given how the situation was, I don't think a lot of people would be happy seeing him."**

"That stubborn baka*." She mumbled. While she didn't like calling people names, there were times when she felt it was really necessary to call one of her friend's something if they did something incredibly stupid or dangerous. And despite Logan being one of her closest friends, he was no exception when it came to the decisions he makes. "I will go get him."

The robot nodded before he terminated further communication from his end. She put the device back into her pocket and motioned for Yellow to follow, "Go and get Red. It looks like you will be having that talk with Logan sooner than you think."

"You know where he is?" Yellow asked.

The Vanguard nodded, "Yes. And you might be familiar with the place."

* * *

><p><em>Celadon City, 9:47 AM…<em>

Erika sat down on the porch outside of her Gym, overlooking the plant life that was all around her. This was her place to go whenever she needed to recollect her thoughts after something troubling had occurred. While it was tough being both a princess of the richest family in Celadon City and a Gym Leader, it was also difficult with the way things have happened over the years.

At first, she helped fellow Gym Leaders Brock and Misty fight against Team Rocket and the Gym Leaders who switched to their side in order to stop them from taking over the world. With the help of Red, Green and Blue, they were able to surround Saffron City, Team Rocket's base of operations, and stop them entirely before the fused Pokémon they made, made up of Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres, could cause further destruction. Then there was the time when Red went missing after his battle with the Elite Four and the Pokémon armies that attacked all the cities. Celadon had taken a rather devastating blow from the event, but they were able to rebuild it with no problem whatsoever. There was even that time when she, Brock and Misty were almost killed by a speeding Magnet Train, courtesy of the Masked Man, but Red had saved them just in time.

But none of them and the events that happened later on could ever compare to what she had witnessed only yesterday, when those things attacked Celadon City. She was told by Alpha that they weren't Pokémon, but a race of destructive shadows known as Endless who were hell-bent on destroying all of life. She had thought that the Pokémon army a few years ago was bad, but this one topped them by a long shot. She had never seen so many of those creatures in one spot, nor had seen such leadership like the one from the armoured Endless.

What really interested her was the one who faced them all. The one named Logan. Even though she hadn't properly met him, she could tell the moment she saw his eyes that there were a lot of things in his mind, things that made her feel sorry for him. And that rage of his… She could absolutely feel its terrifying power from within the crowd.

She lifted the herbal tea that was in her hands up to her mouth and drank. After a few gulps, she slowly lifted the cup down onto her lap and continued watching the forest in front of her, her mind drifting off yet again to the Vanguard boy and his friends. While it was strange to have encountered people hailing from another dimension, she could already tell that she can trust them. They had already proven themselves after saving Celadon City from the Endless, and earning her trust was a lot tougher than most people would think.

She looked down at her tea and saw her own reflection. She contemplated on whether or not she should give Misty or Green a call and check to see how things are going, but she reminded herself that they were probably on their way to the Indigo Plateau to meet up with the other Gym Leaders. She then reminded herself that she needed to head there soon before they started without her.

Erika sighed. _And just when things were beginning to calm down._ She thought to herself. For the moment, she wished that she could meet this Logan person and learn more about him, see what it is about him that makes him so important to everyone. But given how he had lost control during his fight, he was bound to not come back with the fear that everyone would be hunting him down.

A loud crashing sound was heard outside, taking her attention completely. Curious, she set the tea on the floor and began making her way to the entrance.

The moment she opened the door, she was greeted with the saw of Celadon's citizens surrounding what looked like an armoured ninja.

The more she looked at the being, the more she noticed the unusual look about him. He wore pure white sleek armour that looked as though it was built for speed and aerodynamics. A long sword that she quickly identified was a nodachi was sheathed and hanging on the left side of his body. Numerous vertical lines were lined up across his faceplate where his mouth would originally be. The thing that stuck out the most was the blue scarf with flame-like designs on it. Sprouting behind it were four long tendrils with the very tips looking like an arrow's head.

At first she thought it was another Endless, but a look into the figure's eyes revealed him to be someone else. Though it was hard to see from the way his helm was designed, his right eye shined like a blazing inferno, filled with a mixture of hardship and guilt, as well as a buried emotion that was impossible to read, but it most certainly tugged on her heart. She instantly recognized the mysterious being and chuckled to herself.

_He attempted to hide amongst the crowd by changing forms. A well thought idea; if the form did not make him look less human than before._

She saw her people moving closer to him, Pokéballs and weapons held high as they prepared to strike the intruder. "We don't know who you are, but no one goes and sees Lady Erika unless they've been summoned!" One man shouted in the crowd.

"And since we have never seen you before nor have you been summoned by Lady Erika, that means that you are an intruder!" An elderly lady called out before she pointed at the sword on the figure's side, "Just look at that blade you're carrying! It's obvious that you came here to kill our Lady!"

The crowd became even more aggressive as a young girl shouted at him, "We won't let you, you big meanie face!"

Erika watched the crowd moving closer to the figure. At the same time, she noticed the tendrils moving on their own and how they were shaking, as if they were trying to imitate an Arbok's hissing in an attempt to intimidate them. She shook her head. _I better put a stop to this._ She thought. "That's enough!"

Immediately, everyone stopped what they were doing and bowed down to her, all of them shouting out the same thing, "MY LADY!"

The being tilted his head in confusion, as did the four tendrils, stunned by what he was seeing. He soon saw Erika looking at him, "Welcome back, Logan. I apologize for my people's rude behaviour. They don't take kindly to outsiders."

The mentioned Vanguard nodded his head and bowed slightly, showing some respect for her position.

She smiled and stepped out of the Gym, "You came here for a reason. That is the only thing I can assume as to why you would wish to come back after what happened." She noticed some of the people casting glares at the Vanguard in response. She lifted her hand and motioned for everyone to stand up, "Please, come inside. You can explain everything right after you settle down."

He was hesitant at first, but he soon accepted the offer and entered the Gym, avoiding the glares from everyone before he cast one of his own at them.

As he looked around, he noticed that the Gym was surprisingly similar to that of traditional Japanese architecture, with the side opening doors, the porch in the back area, a target practice with bows and arrows placed on the side, and numerous types of eastern plants placed around. Completed with Erika, who was wearing a purple kimono, and it felt like he was actually in ancient Japan.

She noticed that he hadn't budged the moment he stepped in and shook her head, "You do not have to stay in that form all the time, you know. I do wish to speak with you in-person, and it is rather difficult when you are like that."

He glanced over to the side for a moment before he slowly nodded. His armour began to glow bright until it began to fade away in a pixelated fashion. She could see parts of his original body starting to come into appearance the more the armour vanished. Within a few seconds, the Logan that she had met only yesterday was now standing in front of her. But what she noticed that wasn't there were the series of scars that were all over his body from yesterday. Somehow, they were no longer there, as if they had healed over time. But was that even possible, having wounds like the one where he got impaled heal in less than a day? And why did he bother bandaging up his chest when everyone had already saw the gash marks and the symbol on his back?

She pushed back the questioning thoughts and looked up at the Vanguard, "There. Now does that not make you feel a little better?" Erika asked as she set herself down on the hard wood floor.

"If I could talk while I was in my Soul Form, I would have stayed in it. It probably would have added a lot more to the atmosphere." He replied, obviously referring to the building and the stuff that was in it.

This caught Erika's attention. "Oh. So you love this style of architecture?"

He nodded his head, "You don't find a lot of it from the world I'm from. Most of them have been torn down to make room for those corporate buildings and crap." He growled underneath his breath. "It frustrates me to no end that things like this have to be destroyed for mankind's greed for money."

"I see." Erika couldn't help but feel intrigued about this boy. He seemed to know a lot of things despite his age. She decided to get right on to it, "What brings you back to Celadon, then?"

Logan looked down to the ground for a few seconds before he looked back at her. Though his face couldn't say anything, his eyes screamed out with guilt. "I came here to apologize."

Erika was surprised for a moment before she recollected herself. "If it is about what happened yesterday, you do not need to apologize. Your friend Alpha has already done it for you."

"It's not good enough." He said rather bluntly.

"Pardon?"

"What good is it for someone to apologize for something _you_ did if all it brings you is nothing but trouble? You have to live out your life feeling the pain and guilt over what you did to that person." He explained. Then his voice grew quiet, "It's best to apologize to the person yourself than have someone else do it for you."

It made sense, now that Erika thought about it. There was always that nagging feeling inside of you that told you to apologize to someone if you don't. _So that is why he came back._ She thought to herself. She smiled and looked back at him, "I accept your apology, Logan."

The Vanguard didn't say anything, but merely nodded his head.

Erika soon got back up and walked over to the back porch. She stepped outside after putting on her sandals and grabbed the bow and quiver of arrows that were set against the wall. She positioned herself so that she was facing one of the targets and took aim. It was at this moment that Logan stepped outside and watched as Erika released her grip on the bow and saw the arrow sailing across the area before it struck the target right in the center. A clean shot.

He whistled loudly, "Nice shot."

She smirked at this and drew another arrow, "I am not the only one who has good aim."

"What do you-" He asked before he realized that she was talking about him, "Oh, right."

Erika fired the arrow again and watched as it hit another target dead center. "When I saw you using those weapons of yours as you were falling, I was quite amazed. You fired so many bullets upon them and none of them have missed their mark." She pulled out another arrow and took aim again at the target on the far left, "Red had told me about your first meeting, and how you did the same thing against the Endless in the Viridian Forest. None of them missed as well." She let go and smiled when she received another bullseye. "Your marksmanship is quite impressive. You are able to fire as many bullets as you can, and you always managed to land a solid hit on your enemies. That amount of skill can only belong to those who have a vast amount of concentration and patience."

Logan chuckled underneath his breath, "When you live the way I have for the past _ten_ years, patience is the only thing you can have."

She lowered the bow and looped it over her shoulder as she decided to change the topic, "You are quite young to be using guns, or a weapon in general, for that matter. Where did you learn to use one?"

"My father." The answer came rather hesitantly and quietly, "He taught me everything I know, from knowing what type of gun I'm using, the design and layout of it, how to reload it, all the way down to how to properly hold it and keeping the recoil from knocking you off your feet. He even taught me how to fight in hand-to-hand combat and introduced me to several different styles of martial arts. All when I was just a kid."

Erika was impressed. He learned that much at a young age? He just keeps surprising her every moment. She decided to try to carry the conversation a little further and asked, "Where is your father now?"

She regretted asking him that as she noticed the way his eyes flashed before he cast his gaze to the ground. If she didn't know any better, she would have believed that she saw something _evil_ the moment she looked into them. For a while he didn't say anything, which caused Erika to worry slightly. She felt like she might have accidentally made him remember something terrible.

Then, she heard him talking again, though it was even quieter than before and she could barely hear it, "…I'm sorry, but I don't wish to talk about it. It's… something I don't wish to remember."

She knew right away what he meant and apologized. "I am sorry for your loss."

He shook his head and began to walk away from her, his gaze now transfixed onto the sky. "You know, it's funny," He began, "One minute, I was living out my life like a regular human, hanging out with my friends and expecting whether tomorrow would be the same or not; the next, I end up like this and learn that I was never really a human in the first place." He began to chuckle to himself, something that sounded vaguely odd and creepy, "You can't help but laugh at the thought. I mean, how many people do you know end up becoming a _monster_ and having to travel between dimensions to stop some crazy dark lord from destroying all of life?"

She noticed the way he said monster and couldn't help but interrupt, "You are not a monster. A monster would not have a strong and noble heart like yours, or be selfless enough to put his life in danger to save the lives of others. A hero is what you really are, not a monster."

He seemed to twitch at that word and replied very bluntly, "I'm no hero." He looked down at the palm of his robotic hand, "I don't think of myself as one, nor do I feel like one. Everyone that I've met, however, thinks that I am and believe that I can end this stupid war. But the truth is… I can't. I can never be a hero like my father was. I'm nothing more than a kid who can barely control his own temper."

"I never wanted to do this in the first place. It just happened by itself. Besides, is it really that possible to fight against some ancient evil who wants to destroy the universe? You only see that on T.V. shows. But it's happening right now, and that's what terrifies me." His fist clenched even tighter, causing some of the gears in his arm to whir loudly as a result, "I just wish that everything could go back to the way things were, that all of this was just some crazy dream and I'd wake up as my old self. But that will never happen. Nothing can ever make me go back to my normal life, not after the things that I've done."

As soon as he finished saying that, from out of nowhere, something small and pink flew in front of him, being carried away to an unknown location by the wind. In that instant, time began to slow down as Logan looked at the small petal, inspecting it's features. He immediately froze in place as his eyes grew wide in shock. His heart slowed down to an agonizingly slow beat as time began to return to normal and the small petal flew off in the direction of the wind. Still in the middle of his shock, Logan's eyes followed the petal, clearly in disbelief that it was really what he thought it was.

"It can't be…" His hand immediately slumped to his side as memories began to play back in his mind, all of them tugging at his heart for each one that appeared.

He gasped and soon found himself darting his head in every direction, trying to find out where the petal came from. It wasn't until he finally felt the wind brushing against his bare back that he found his answer. Turning to the direction of where the wind was coming from, he immediately sprinted off, jumping up to the Gym's roof like a rabbit _(Or a Lopunny in this case)_ and disappearing on the other side. Erika became surprised at this and gave chase. She stepped out of the entrance and barely saw Logan as he disappeared down one of the streets.

She followed after him, making sure to run as fast as she could so that she could keep up with him. For someone his age, he can run pretty fast. She turned around the corner as she barely caught a glimpse of his antenna and entered the forest, following the same path that Logan was taking. She knew this path quite well. It actually led to one of the city's gardens. But what could possibly be so important about it to him?

She finally saw Logan up ahead of her and stopped in her tracks, watching him closely for what he was doing. He was surrounded by all kinds of flowers and plants, some of them not even indigenous to the Kanto. But none of them were catching his attention.

It was the large sakura tree in front of him that did.

She saw him moving closer to the tree until he was only a foot away from it. His robotic hand rose up until it was just slightly hovering over the bark exterior. He placed it against the tree and felt the rigid exterior against his cold, metallic hand. His eyes stared at the great tree intently as memories began to play in his mind.

* * *

><p><em> "What do you want to play, Big Sis?" He saw a younger version of himself calling out to the older girl in front of him.<em>

_ "I don't know." She said, her voice bringing back more memories as it tugged on his heart, "How about a game of tag?"_

_ "Okay! Tag! You're it!" He watched his younger self touching the older girl on the arm before he sprinted off._

_ "Hey! Wait up! Ehehehehe~!" The girl laughed as she chased after him._

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><p>Erika was confused about his unusual behaviour before she heard movement coming from behind. She turned around and saw the townspeople running up to her. One of them, a middle aged man with a hoe in his hands, asked her, "Are you all right, milady?"<p>

She nodded, "Yes. I'm fine. But why are you all here?"

"We saw that boy hopping around and running off and you chasing after him." A young lady answered, "We thought that he may have had done something bad to you from the way you chased after him and figured that you might need some help catching him."

Erika sighed underneath her breath. Her people mean well, but they would often times chase people away or get agitated with them if they even looked at her. It was tough being a princess. "He hasn't done anything wrong. He just saw something and immediately came here in response."

"So is that why he's in the garden?" A young boy with a Growlithe by his side asked.

She nodded her head to him before looking back at Logan. She really wanted to know what was so special about the tree to him other than how beautiful it looked.

Had Erika only known the truth, then maybe she would understand. But for the moment, all Logan could do was look up at the branches as another memory appeared before his eyes.

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><p><em> "Logan! Get down from there! You're going to get yourself hurt!" The young girl shouted at the even younger boy, who was sitting atop of one of the many branches of the mighty oak tree that stood in their front yard.<em>

_ "I'm okay, Big Sis! I do this all the time!" The boy laughed happily as he hopped to another branch, unafraid of how high up he was._

_ The girl looked at him in disbelief, "Seriously?!" She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, "(Sigh) What am I gonna do about you?"_

_ "Aw, come on, Sis. Don't be so hard on yourself. After all, you were the one who taught me how to climb a tree." The boy laughed before he lied against the branch he was currently on._

_ The girl couldn't help but smile at the statement and sat down with her back against the trunk, "And I sometimes wonder why I did."_

_ Neither one of them said anything else as they began to enjoy the moment of peace._

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><p>Everyone was so focused on the Vanguard that none of them noticed the Dodrio running at them, nor the Aerodactyl that flew across the sky. Except for Erika, who was the first to hear the Prehistoric Pokémon's call.<p>

_"RRRAAAAWWWWWRRRR!"_ The Pokémon cried out.

She turned around and watched as it landed nearby and let go of the trainer it was carrying. It was none other than Red, who was soon joined by Yellow and Saria as they both dismounted from the Dodrio.

Red saw Erika approaching them and ran up to her, "Logan. Where did he go?"

She pointed at the direction where the cherry blossom tree was and he saw Logan standing there. Before he could even take a step forward, a hand grasped onto his shoulder tightly, pulling him back. He turned around and saw Saria looked at him solemnly. He knew right away what she was about to say.

"I will go talk with him. You stay here with Yellow." She pointed at the Viridian Girl who was busy trying to keep Dody from eating one of the berries that hung from a nearby tree.

He obeyed without question and watched as the Vanguard girl stepped forward, gently pushing aside through the crowd of people and apologizing on the way. She soon got out and walked up to her friend, who didn't even acknowledge her presence. She walked around him until she was standing right beside him and looked at his face.

Sure enough, his eyes were looking off into space and shook slightly with each second. She knew exactly what was going on, and she couldn't help but speak out his name with worry lapsed into her lips, "Logan?"

He didn't answer, nor did he turn around to look at her. Instead, he continued watching the tree as the area around him shifted into yet another memory.

* * *

><p><em> The two siblings were sitting behind a railing that kept them from falling off the cliff that they were on. Behind them stood a large forest that was illuminated by the setting sun, with their neighbourhood directly behind it. A large cherry blossom tree stood at the very center of the cliff from all sides, its branches providing a decent amount of shade for the two siblings to hide in. They watched as the sun slowly began to descend on the horizon, beyond the surface of the massive lake before them. Not many people knew of this place other than the two, as this was their favourite place to go every day to watch the sunset.<em>

_ "No matter how many times I've already seen it, the view is still as beautiful as ever." The girl said as she looped her jet-black hair behind her left ear._

_ "Yeah." Younger Logan replied as he found himself transfixed with the beautiful scenery. He yawned softly and looked up at his older sister, "Hey, Lucy?"_

_ The mentioned girl looked down at her younger brother with a sincere smile, "Yes?"_

_ He rested his head on her lap as he felt a wave of fatigue envelop his body, "Can we stay like this a little longer? I don't want to leave just yet."_

_ Lucy giggled as she began to brush her finger's along the younger boy's hair, her emerald eyes shining like two beacons, "Of course."_

_ Logan smiled before he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. The last thing that he saw was the sun casting its radiant red glow across the lake's watery surface, making it shine like the stars that began to appear in the now darkening sky._

* * *

><p>Saria tried calling out his name a few more times, but he still did not respond. She decided to go for the alternative and began to shake him slightly, trying to jar him out of his thoughts.<p>

It was at this point that her friend had finally begun to move after the few minutes he spent standing as still as a statue. His left hand moved up to the necklace and clutched it tightly in his hands. He lowered his head and began to tremble slightly as his sister's words began to repeat in his head, as if she had told him just yesterday;

_"Promise me… that no matter what happens… you'll never lose sight of yourself. Follow… what your heart tells you… and decide your own destiny…"_

"…Lucy…" He whispered to himself as a single tear began to fall from his eye.

Saria was even more worried than before and shook him one last time, "Logan?" She said as softly as she could.

It seemed to do the trick. His eyes flew wide open, free from their trance, and he turned his head slightly to look back at her. He was surprised to see her there, as well as many of Celadon's residents, but he was soon driven away from his thoughts when he noticed that the sun was blocked out several times in a few seconds.

The moment Saria saw Logan looking up was the moment that she could have swore his eyes flared with aggression. She looked up to see what it was that surprised him and gasped at the sight.

Dotted across the partially clouded blue sky was a swarm of small creatures, each one being about the size of a child's head. They possessed no wings, but looked like spheres with floating hands attached to them. They were wearing garbs around them, each one sporting a different colour, yet what they were was too far away to decipher. In front of the swarm were a couple of larger creatures that wore darker clothing and lacked everything underneath their torso with the exception of what appeared to be a tail of some sort.

Without any hesitation, Logan changed back into his Soul Form and ran off, following the strange creatures to wherever they were going. The townspeople who were in the way immediately moved to the side so that they wouldn't be pushed down and wondered what was up. Both Red and Yellow were confused about his strange action and approached the female Vanguard.

"What's up with Logan?" Red asked.

His only answer from Saria was her pointing up to the sky. They both followed her movement and, like her, their jaws dropped.

"Please tell me that those things are wild Pokémon?" Saria asked him.

He shook his head, "I've never seen any of those things in my entire life."

"Oh Arceus…" Yellow whispered behind her hand. There was no way that this was happening again. There was just no way.

Erika watched the Endless' movement and followed their possible path. She pulled out a pocket-sized version of the map of Kanto and pinpointed where their possible destination could be. When she concluded what it was, her eyes quickly became shocked. "They're heading straight for the Indigo Plateau!"

"What?!" Both trainers shouted at the same time. They then remembered someone who was already there at the moment, and shouted even louder, "PROFESSOR OAK!"

Red grabbed onto the sides of his hat and clamped down, "Grrr! Of all the times that this had to happen…!"

"W-We have to warn Professor Oak before they get there!" Yellow exclaimed.

Red and Saria nodded at the suggestion and quickly sprinted into action. Red commanded Aero to grab onto his back and began to take off while Yellow and Saria quickly mounted up on Dody's back. Yellow held onto the reins tightly and heard Erika shouting out to them, "I will inform the other's about the situation! Hurry and save the Professor before they reach him!"

She nodded her head and told Dody to move. In a flash, the Dodrio sprinted across the forest and through Celadon City, heading right to the direction where the Indigo Plateau was.

As Saria held tightly onto Yellow so that she wouldn't fall off, she looked back up at the horde of Endless that covered the sky like a storm. _There can only be one reason why there would be this many Endless, especially ones of the same kind._ She looked ahead of them again and for a moment saw a blur of white racing across the trees, indicating that Logan was somewhere within. _I just hope that Logan is prepared for what he is about to face._

She swallowed her worry and felt the wind blowing across her hair as the Dodrio took the path that led straight to the Indigo Plateau… and to the fight of their lives.

* * *

><p>Baka: Japanese word for fool; idiot; jerk; dolt; imbecile; foolish; stupid; worthless; absurd; ridiculous; idiotic; dumb ass. It mostly means fool. In Saria's case, she is calling Logan a stubborn idiot.<p>

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><p><strong>For the past three weeks now, I have been feeling like crap; from coughing up my own lungs and having minimum sleep as a result, to having slight headaches in the day. But, since my love for writing is still as strong as ever when I'm sick, I have finally finished the 12th Chapter of Revenant's Tale: Orange Blossoms.<strong>

**This chapter is sort of bland in my opinion, since there really isn't much action going on. This was my first attempt _(Or second or third. I don't even know at this point!)_ to try and put a small break in-between action sequences since I have been doing a lot of those lately.**

**However, this chapter does reveal some important information about Logan, such as his undesire to be the so-called "Hero" that everyone expects him to be and the importance of the sakura tree that triggered some of his memories when he was a kid.**

**I don't know why, but for some reason I really like writing Yellow in embarrasing situations. It just makes her so adorable.**

**And I will say this right now; no she does not like Logan in that kind of way. I only made Saria and Red ask that to Yellow because they were either curious or teasing her _(Red being the one who was teasing her about it)_. This fanfic is SpecialShipping if you haven't guessed by now. So far I haven't really shown much between them except for when they were sleeping together in the tent back at Chapter 4 _(Or maybe it was 5?)_, but I do have something special in mind for the next chapter and the later chapters. And trust me, if you are fans of SpecialShipping, you will enjoy it.**

**Something I should point out rather quick, and it mainly focuses on the difference between Logan's Rage and Soul Form's. Rage Form grants him immense strength and endurance, but at the cost of his sense of reasoning and his sanity. Soul Form grants him tremendous speed and agility, as well as god-like reflexes, but at the price it reduces his current strength in half and renders him a mute. The only way for him to communicate in this form is via the tendrils, which will either hiss, do hand signs, or do the same thing a Kricketune Pokémon does, by rubbing against one another to produce sound waves.**


	14. Legion, Master of the Arcane

**EDIT:**** Fix the ending for you guys. Should make a little more sense now.**

**(A/N: FINALLY! After more than a month of working on this damn chapter, I am finally DONE! Holy f**k, this took way too long to finish. **

**I deeply apologize for the massive gap between this chapter and the last one, but there were a lot of things that have been happening. First, I started my final year at high school last week. Second, I have been playing the shit out of Mass Effect 1 and have literally forgotten about this thing. As a result, I have now began to come up with ideas for a Mass Efect fanfic, as well as a possible sequel for this one once it's finished. Third, I have reviewed this story about six or seven times so far, and I am still not happy about it. Not one bit.**

**(Sigh) Oh well. This is the next chapter for Revenant's Tale: Orange Blossoms. You might notice that halfway through the chapter, there will be two brakes in-between paragraphs that have a _'Recommended Theme' _on it. I was intending to create a perfect atmosphere for the two events that have the themes, and the best way to do so would be through music. So if you guys ever want to listen to the themes while reading each of those sections, the links are within the breaks. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Cause I sure as hell didn't.)**

**I do not take credit for any mentioned Pokémon or Pokémon Special characters, nor the songs that have been used for this chapter.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13: Legion, Master of the Arcane<strong>

"So this Logan fellow was born with these powers that enable him to fight against these shadow creatures you call Endless, similar to how Yellow and Lance were born with their powers in the Viridian Forest?" A bald, aged man with a thick mustache said to the robot that stood by his side. He wore a pair of circular black glasses, a white lab coat, a black shirt and shoes, green jeans that were held up by a brown belt and a blue tie.

"**Yes, though I fear that Logan does not have as much control over them as your friend Yellow does."** Alpha replied. For reasons only to him, it felt nice talking to two intellectual people. While he was impressed that Professor Oak, who was also with them, was a world famous Pokémon Professor, it was Blaine who he was more impressed with. He had looked him up on the data archives of this world and learned that Blaine was once a former Team Rocket scientist who betrayed them after seeing Red trying to save Mew. Not only that, but he was also a master of Fire-type Pokémon, and his talents had come in useful hands with the other Gym Leaders and the Dexholders. Plus, his sense of humour was definitely a breather compared to how many times he heard Brady's awful jokes.

He and Professor Oak had initiated a call to the Gym Leaders across Kanto to inform them about the situation. Blaine was the first to arrive, followed up by Sabrina and Koga. The others, such as Lt. Surge and Erika, were still preparing their cities in the event that they were attacked, with the latter taking extra time considering that the attack on her city was the main reason for this meeting. He also learned that Sabrina, Koga and Lt. Surge were former members of Team Rocket, and were actually the top members of the evil organization. They had reformed their evil ways and returned to their duties as a Gym Leader, but were still being kept a close eye on in case they ever went back to their evil ways.

While Sabrina and Koga were informing the Johto Gym Leaders of the situation, Alpha, Blaine and Prof. Oak were waiting within the main lobby of the Indigo Plateau for the other Gym Leaders to arrive. Though they were very patient, they were still wondering what was taking everybody so long. So, in an attempt to ease the boredom, they began their chat that eventually led up to discussing about Logan.

"He didn't seem to have any problems using his powers back in Celadon." Prof. Oak stepped into the conversation.

"**The problem was that he was in the middle of a berserker-like state that erases traces of his sense of rationality and reasoning. The hindbrain, or as you humans call it the reptilian brain, acts as the source for primal instincts and senses of survival. When he was enraged, the network within the hindbrain erased all commands from the other networks and caused his primordial instincts to kick in, causing him to act out like a wild animal. By using his powers while in that state, he is not only a threat to his enemies, but also an even bigger threat to everyone around him and to himself."** Alpha explained, **"Plus, he still hasn't fully mastered his powers, so that adds more to the problem."**

"Is there perhaps a way for him to enter a state of meditation where he can channel his energy and have better control over his powers, like a Psychic Pokémon?" Blaine asked.

Alpha shook his head, **"Unfortunately no. We have tried convincing him to do so, but we haven't had any luck. The only person who is ever successful in doing so is Saria."**

"Which brings us to the next question I have in mind," Blaine added before they stopped in their tracks, "This Saria person; does she have some sort of special connection with Logan? Based on what you have told us about her, it seems as though she is the only one who fully understands Logan than anyone else."

Alpha cupped his hand underneath his chin and pondered in thought for a moment. **"The first time any of us have ever met her was a few months ago, and even then she has treated Logan as if she's known him for her entire life."** He crossed his arms and closed his optics, letting himself delve deep into his memory banks, **"Her selfless nature and her sense of justice are both admirable traits, but there have been times where she has shown other sides of her nature, some more questionable than others. Just yesterday, she was sleeping with Logan beside one of the tree's in Pallet Town. The position that they slept in made it look as though they were close, almost to the point that one would classify as 'lovers'."** The two professors' heard the robot chuckling to himself before he continued,** "Even though she'll disagree with everyone else about the topic, I do believe that she harbours some 'personal' feelings for Logan, similar to how Yellow harbours similar feelings to Red."**

Blaine burst into a fit of laughter when he heard this, "Hohoho! So Yellow does love Red! That is wonderful news!"

Prof. Oak nodded his head in agreement, "They both do seem to spend a lot of time together."

"**They do, but I don't recall seeing neither of them acting like they are. They mostly act as though they're close friends. Perhaps they haven't told each other the truth yet."**

"Well, hopefully they do so soon before somebody else manages to win over Yellow's heart." Blaine said.

"**Like Brady?"** Alpha joked, which soon resulted in the three of them laughing.

Their conversation ended when the doors flew wide open and a security guard came barrelling right in. He stopped when he approached them, his face covered in sweat and out of breath. He looked at them with a frightful look in his eyes before he pointed at the door with a shaking finger.

"_(Panting)_… Outside… _(Panting)_… Something… big… something bad! _(Panting)_… You have to…_ (Panting)_… eva…evacutate… at once!" He struggled to form the words out of his mouth before his legs started to give way.

Blaine walked up to the officer and caught him before he collapsed. Though it was difficult to see through his glasses, his expression grew serious, "What do you mean 'Something big'? What's happening out there?"

He soon got his answer as the ceiling exploded and pieces of debris began to rain down on. Blaine saw this and pushed the officer out of the way before a large chunk of the ceiling slammed down on the spot they were standing just a moment ago. Alpha grabbed Prof. Oak and moved him away from the destruction. Blaine and the officer soon ran over to where they were and waited until the last pieces of falling debris were on the ground.

Their eyes were now glued to the newly made hole in the ceiling as a figure began to descend upon the front foyer. It wore a black robe adorned with symbols and runes and an amulet around his neck that seethed with dark energy. Its face was shrouded entirely in darkness thanks to the hood, so it was impossible to see its face, but its blood red eyes shined perfectly from within. In place of its legs was nothing more than the tail end of its spinal cord. It began to laugh maniacally as it moved closer to the small group.

Alpha immediately recognized the figure for what it was and cursed underneath his audio receptor, **"Dark Magus."**

The figure laughed before it replied to him, _-Vanguard drone. It hasss been a while, hasssn't it? Almossst a few centuriesss, to be precissse.-_

The robot grew more irritated as he pulled out his twin laser staff, **"Why are you here?"**

_-Isssn't it obvious?-_ The Endless asked, _-To conquer the world. The Massster hasss had hisss eye on thisss world for sssome time, due to it being… a goldmine of heartsss.- _The Endless balled his fist as soon as he finished saying that, relishing every moment.

"So you're going to destroy this world and everyone in it?" Professor Oak protested.

_-Oh no, no, no. Even we Endlessssss do not possssssessssss that kind of power.- _The Endless began to sneer and laughed once more,_ -At leassst… not yet.-_

Alpha quickly caught on to what the Endless was saying and asked slowly and threateningly, **"What is you Master planning?"**

_-Unfortunately for you, I don't intend to ssspoil the 'sssurprissse'. Now,-_ A dark orb began to appear around the Endless' hand, forcing Alpha and the two Professor's to take on the defensive. On cue, two more Dark Magus' appeared beside the first and did the same thing, aiming their attacks directly at the humans. _-Do yourssselvesss a favour… and PERISSSH!-_ The first Endless shouted out as he fired a Dark Ball directly at the group.

* * *

><p>Yellow was the first to spot the Endless patrolling the front gates of the Indigo Plateau. She looked back at Saria and told her what was up ahead.<p>

Taking this into consideration, Saria stood up on the speeding Dodrio and aimed her weapon directly at the Endless. The tip of the blade began to glow pure white before it created an orb of energy, growing bigger in size in seconds. Within a few moments, she fired the now energy blast at the Endless and watched as they were all disintegrated in a sea of light.

The young Vanguard smiled at her handiwork before she sat back down. Yellow looked at her with a face that was both shocked and amazed. She chuckled at seeing her friend's reaction and quickly explained, "This weapon is used for more than just slicing through Endless. It fires powerful concentrated beams of light, an element that the Endless are very weak against."

"Have I ever mentioned how much I'm really glad that you and Logan are on our side?" Yellow asked as Dody began to stomp on the small Endless that didn't move out of the way in time. One of them, a Yellow Tonitrui that Saria had explained earlier, lunged right at her with an electrified tackle, but was immediately swatted away by Yellow's fishing pole.

Saria detected the unusual fighting spirit inside of Yellow and joked, "And have I ever mentioned that, for a pacifist, you do seem to enjoy beating the Endless as though they were a pack of Qurasion Spiders*?"

"It was all out of self-defence!" The Healer protested.

Their conversation was interrupted as an Aerodactyl flew over their heads and fired a Hused a Dragon Claw on a few Endless in front of it, followed up by a few Hyper Beams at a couple larger groups. Both girls heard the owner of that Pokémon cheering him on as the Prehistoric Pokémon looped around in the air.

"Then what of your friend, Red? He sure seems to enjoy this a lot more than you." Saria asked the blonde girl before she plunged her naginata into a Red Ignis' body and tossed it aside.

"He is called 'The Battler' for a reason." Yellow answered. "Speaking of friends, where's Logan?"

A white blur sped right beside them and sliced several dozen Endless into pieces in less than a second. The figure continued to move forward until it reached one of the Dark Magus' that was hovering above him and sliced it in half with the sheath of his nodachi. As soon as he finished, he proceeded to the next Endless and repeated the process again and again until there was nothing left. He looked at the two girls and pointed at the front door with his tendrils.

"I believe that answers your question." Saria told Yellow before she hopped off of Dody and walked right up to Logan. His eyes were fixated on the doors as his grip grew tighter on his weapon. She noticed this and quietly asked him, "What can you hear?"

The tendrils hummed softly to her before they pointed at the door. They made gestures in the air between them, something that no one except for her can read.

"A fight? Then it must be Alpha and Prof. Oak. We need to go help them."

The tendrils pointed up to the roof of the structure as he raised his sword a bit higher.

She understood what he was saying and agreed with the idea. "Taking the higher ground for tactical advantage and getting the drop on our enemy? An excellent idea." She twirled her weapon as Red and Yellow joined up with them. "We will rendezvous on the other side with Alpha and Prof. Oak."

Logan nodded his head before taking a running start and began to run up the wall. When he nearly made it to the top, all four tendrils lashed out and grabbed onto the edge and propelled himself even further. He spun around a few times before landing perfectly on his feet, then took a moment to look around his surroundings. He spotted numerous Endless wondering around, seemingly minding their own business. However, one of them soon took notice of him and called out to the others. Now all of them looked at him with malice and readied their powers.

He didn't bother to move in the least bit. Instead, he casually flicked his thumb up so that the sword was slightly released from its sheath. In an instant, all the Endless in front of him exploded into mists of darkness before they faded away. Smirking, he kept moving until he noticed the large hole that was on the roof.

From where he was, he saw Saria, Red and Yellow carving a path through the Endless that were in front of them. He took notice of how Red and Yellow cooperated with one another as they commanded their Pokémon to attack each Endless with a variety of attacks. The tendrils moved closer to his face as they began to speak to him telepathically. He chuckled inwardly and continued looking at the two trainers.

They had a very good point, that which he could definitely agree on; Red and Yellow are a perfect team when they're together.

Shouts were clearly heard from the other side of the roof, diverting Logan's attention away from the battle inside. He quickly ran to where it was coming from, weapon held tightly in his hand.

* * *

><p>Silence enveloped the Pokémon stadium, one of many that were built inside the Indigo Plateau. Empty stands were on all sides, giving people the chance to see the battles unfold. Unlike most stadiums, this one had no roof, so it had a perfect view of the somewhat cloudy sky. A gust of wind blew by and carried some dust away.<p>

The doors flew wide open, breaking the silence entirely with a loud bang and releasing a puff of black smoke. Two humans sprinted out and coughed along the way; one on a Stantler, the other with an Growlithe. Moments later, a machine burst through the smoke and sliced several blue Endless in half before he bakflipped away from a dark explosion. He landed perfectly on his feet and looked up just in time to see the Endless pouring out of the door.

While they weren't strong physically, these Endless possessed magic abilities that helped them turn the tide of battle. The smaller Endless in front of Alpha had four different coloured garbs, making it easier for Alpha to identify who they were. The red ones were known as Red Ignis', and were notorious for their relentless fire attacks and lunging at their enemies like a fireball. The Blue Aquas were blue coloured Endless that had power over water, and can solidify the moisture around them to create a defensive barrier. Yellow Tonitruis' were the yellow coloured ones that utilized Electric attacks and often times surround themselves in an electric barrier before hurling themselves at their enemies. The Green Foliums were probably the worst of them all. While they were slow and can only attack by shooting or creating a mass of leaves, they also possessed healing powers, which they used quite often on some of the stronger Endless.

The robot pulled out several daggers and threw them at the Endless. The daggers imbedded into their bodies and stuck them against the wall. They struggled a few times before their bodies slumped and vanished. Several more came out and met the same fate.

Eight Red Ignis' appeared on the side and tried to ambush Prof. Oak. He pulled out another Pokéball and called out Bach, a Ledyba, and told it to use Confuse Ray on them. The attack hit them and made them stumble a few times before they began attacking each other. A few more, this time Yellow Tonitruis', tried to ambush Blaine, but they had a similar fate from his Growlithe's Fire Blast. The Endless, having no powers over fire and thus could not heal from it, quickly incinerated until there was nothing left but dust.

_-Isss thisss really what thisss world hasss to protect it?-_ A voice called out inside all of their heads. Before long, the Dark Magus flew out of the room, followed by the two from before. He tsked in disappointment, _-I wasss expecting much more.-_

_-Perhapsss thessse humansss are nothing more than weak-minded foolsss who are ssstill afraid of the dark.-_ Another Dark Magus suggested to the other two, this one having a deeper tone in its voice, _-Let'sss jussst get rid of them right now and get thisss over with!-_

_-And where'sss the fun in that?-_ The third one asked, this one sounding even more demonic than the two, _-I sssay we have a little bit of fun and torture them, then sssend them on their way to oblivion!-_

The first Endless snarled at the other two for them to be quiet before focusing back on Alpha, _-My brother ssspeaksss sssome truth, drone. Why risssk your life to sssave a world when it really isssn't your own? Are you jussst that desssperate to find a home for your 'massstersss' to live in after thousssandsss of yearsss of exile?-_

Alpha pointed his weapon at the Endless and shouted, **"I have seen too many worlds fall into darkness by you and your 'Master's' hand. Even if this isn't Valkeron, I will still defend it as if it is!"**

The stadium was soon filled with nothing but twisted laughter as the Endless laughed at the robot. _-Hahaha! Tough wordsss coming from an outdated piece of ssscrap!-_ The second Dark Magus shouted out.

The first Dark Magus snapped his fingers and summoned several Endless, surrounding Alpha, Oak and Blaine entirely. He smirked wickedly before he continued, _-It appearsss that your time hasss run up. No matter. You will make such adequate Endlessssss when we are done.-_

The group prepared themselves as the Endless moved closer to them, preparing to eliminate them with their magic powers.

A shrill roar called out from up in the air as a beam struck the Endless on the far left, obliterating them off the face of the earth. Surprised, the three Dark Magus' looked back and saw Red gliding down with his Aero and was soon joined up with Yellow, Dody and Saria. The Viridian Girl held onto the reins of her Dodrio tightly while Saria spun her weapon around and pointed it at the closest Dark Magus, electricity coursing across the blade.

"Hope you guys weren't planning on starting without us?" Red joked as he called out Poli and Pika.

The 'leader' of the Dark Magus' brought a hand up to his chin and smirked, _-Ssso, your 'calvary' hasss arrived.- _As soon as he finished, a couple dozen Grims surrounded the newcomers, waiting to cleave them apart with their claws. _-Thisss ssshould be an easssy victory.-_

One of the Grim's roared out and lunged at Red, ready to rend him in half. Before it had the chance, a white tendril shot forward and pierced the Endless through its skull, killing it instantly. It lifted its lifeless body and tossed it aside, shocking everybody who had witnessed it.

As soon as the Grim had been killed, all the other Endless except for the Dark Magus' had been chopped in half all at once. They screamed out in pain before they vanished.

Searching around for whoever was responsible, the Dark Magus looked up at the roof and saw a white armoured figure with four tendrils hovering around him, his grip holding onto the hilt of his sword. It smiled underneath it's hood._ He hasss finally arrived._ The Endless thought to itself before it shouted out to him, _-Welcome, Hero!- _He said it as though it was an insult to him, _-I don't know if you haven't noticed, but you are too late! Jussst look up at the sssky!-_

Logan glared at the Endless for a few moments before he decided to look up. His eyes suddenly grew wide at what he saw.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of Endless circled high above the stadium, mimicking the movement of a tornado. In the centre of it all were two more Dark Magus' that descended down and joined up with the other three. The swarm of Endless soon followed suite and surrounded the powerful Endless, making it difficult to see through them.

The first one laughed at the sight of the humans' shocked expressions and raised its hands up in the air, _-YESSS! Behold, the might of the Endlessssss army! We have gathered here by order of the Dark Lord to ssspread the darknessssss to the four cornersss of thisss world! Now you asssk yourssself, 'How will we be able to sssucceed?' Sssimple__…-_ The Endless reared its head back and shouted as though it was calling to the heavens, _-We plan on sssummoning the ultimate warrior to conquer it and make it our own!-_

It was by this point that Saria knew what he meant and shouted at it in dismay, "You are insane! Do you have any idea what that will do to the balance of this world?! This world is already suffering from the darkness that has plagued it for years, and you plan on summoning _'It'_?! The very presence of that monster would cause the world to become unstable and fall into destruction!"

_-That isss the idea, Vanguard child. Now,-_ The Endless thrust its arms out and began to hover up until it was in the very centre of the tornado. The other Dark Magus' followed it's movement and formed a small ring around it. Dark energy began to radiate from them all as the first continued to speak, _-Watch asss we tear your preciousss world apart with the forcesss of DARKNESSSSSS!-_

The five mages began to chant an indecipherable incantation as the small Endless began to spin around them faster and faster. Everyone watched as the Endless in the centre began to fuse together and transformed into a massive ball of darkness. All of the Endless' eyes flashed crimson before they spun around like a mighty gust of wind, doing the same thing their leader's did.

The first to fuse were the Red Ignis' and Yellow Tonitruis. They stood side by side until they began to form what looked like a red arm with yellow thunder streaks running across it. They closed their eyes and, almost instantly, the gaps between all of them flashed white and fused together. Their bodies began to meld and twist to take on the new form. Soon, in their place were two massive arms that spread out, releasing massive amounts of fire and electricity from the palm of their hands. The Blue Aquas' and Green Foliums did the same thing and surrounded the dark orb, creating a clear blue body. It had dozens of green lines coursing around it that soon joined up at a large circle in the centre of the chest. The two arms flew towards the body and connected to its shoulders, eventually making the main upper body portion of the Endless.

It was then the dark orb's turn. It shifted and convulsed before it began taking the form of a large spine, coiling around as it tried to get used to its new body. The upper portion of the orb dissolved and formed a massive skull that was soon covered up by an even larger version of the Dark Magus' cloaks, hough it was only big enough to cover just the head and shoulders and draped down along its back.

When it all ended, the newly formed Endless opened its glaring, red eyes before it let loose a mighty shout, shattering all the glass around the stadium. It held out it's arm and willed a giant staff out of thin air. It spun it around a few times before slamming it down onto the ground, causing a large crater to form. It looked down at the people in front of it and smiled triumphantly, pleased with how successful the fusion went.

Out of everyone who starred in shock at the giant Endless, only Alpha and Saria cursed underneath their breath.

The Endless laughed at them with a voice that boomed like thunder and spoke as though there were several different voices speaking at the same time, _-We! Are! LEGION! The Massstersss of the Arcane, and loyal ssservant of the Dark Lord!-_ The Endless saw Logan jump off the room and landed gracefully beside the others, keeping his glare fixated on the Endless as he did. _-We had planned to ussse thisss power to easssily take control of thisss world without much opposssition, but with your timely arrival, Logan Ssstone, we will dessstroy you asss well. It isss asss you humansss sssay; two birdsss with one ssstone.-_

It turned around, focusing its attention on Prof. Oak, Blaine and Alpha. It lifted one finger at them and, by his commanded, threw all three of them and their Pokémon across the stadium with a powerful psychic blast. They slammed against the wall and slid down to the ground, unconscious, _-We will deal with you three later.-_ Another voice called out before it turned back at the four who were still standing, _-After we deal with thessse pessstsss.-_

The Endless teleported right in front of them and crouched down, looking at each one of them one by one. Through its eyes, it could see their hearts beating in fear or anger at the sight of it, something that amused the creature. It looked at Red first and spoke out what it saw, _-Thisss one hasss a fire that burnsss within hisss heart; a fire that yearnsss for the thrill of a fight. A warrior'sss heart isss what thisss human posssesss.-_ It looked to the side and Yellow and chuckled out loud, another voice taking the first one's place, _-Oh, but thisss one hasss a heart that isss free from darknessssss; purified by light. Her heart isss conflicted with emotionsss on what to tell a certain human boy of how ssshe truly feelsss.- _It snarled as it moved its head closer to her, prompting her to back away from it, _-We ssshall sssavour the moment when we FEASSST upon your heart.-_ The Viridian Girl gulped at when it said 'feast'.

It looked at Saria and growled in curiosity, _-Hmm, thisss one isss filled with knowledge of a dying race and a curiousss mind, yet her heart isss shrouded in myssstery.-_ It scoffed underneath its breath, _-Not even worth to chew on.-_

The moment it looked at Logan, it's eyes flashed in astonishment before it reared its head back, laughing like a psychopath. _-Thisss isss the ssso called 'Hero' that isss dessstined to sssave all worldsss? Hahahahahahahaha! Thisss Vanguard doesssn't even wisssh to be alive!-_ Everyone gasped in shock as they looked at Logan in confusion. What was the Endless talking about? The multitude of voices began to speak one after the other, voicing out what they saw with gleeful humour, _-A heart ssshrouded in sssorrow… A heart clouded by grief… Only ssshadowsss fill the void within. A heart… that wissshesss to exist no more and fade into nothingnessssss…-_ It soon saw Logan lowering his head and laughed even louder, _-Thisss isss your mighty chosssen one? He isss nothing more than a weak-willed human who wissshesss not but the end of hisss own life!-_

Saria looked over at her friend and saw his head turned away from all of them, as if he was ashamed to even look at them. It looked as though the Endless' words struck him hard, and she couldn't help but walk closer to him, worry etched across her eyes. "Logan, what is he talking about?"

_-Yesss, Logan, why don't you tell them? Tell them how you have committed terrible sssinsss in your passst and have lossst everybody you held dead asss a resssult? Tell them how you blame yourssself for the dessstruction of your own world and how you were unable to sssave it? Tell them about the demon that resssidesss within you, and wissshesss to dessstroy all in itsss path!-_

The Endless couldn't see since it went back to laughing, but Logan's hand began to clench even tighter around his weapon until his knuckles started to crack, shaking from the amount of rage that was building up.

_-If thisss isss what you have asss your ssso-called 'protector', then you are wasssting our time. We will end you worthlessssss livesss asss a resssult,-_ Legion raised his staff high up in the air, setting it ablaze in fire, before bringing it back down on Red and Yellow, _-Ssstarting with you two!-_

The two were prepared for this and were about ready to command their Pokémon to counterattack before Logan stepped in-between them. He swiftly blocked the Endless' attack with his sword, still sheathed, and held his ground as the two struggled for dominance.

The Endless scoffed in mild interest as it applied more force to its attack, _-You value thessse humansss livesss more than you value your own? You are truly a weakling if you think that helping them will eassse the tempessst that lingersss within you!-_ He leaned his head closer to the Vanguard before whispering to him, _-Why not jussst give up, and let the darknessssss take over? It will sssurely bring you your 'ssswift end'.- _It took a second glance at the two trainers and laughed quietly, something that would make anyone want to punch the person, or creature, in the face, _-Don't worry. We will take good care of your friendsss and sssavour the moment when we kill them before your dying eyesss.-_

Something within Logan snapped at the Endless' words and drove him over the edge. He swung his sword, throwing the Endless completely off balance and drove a swift kick directly on its chest. The blow sent the Endless back, but it easily shook away the pain and stared at him with a wicked smile. It tilted its head to the side, earning a few cracks, and slammed the bottom of the staff onto the ground again.

* * *

><p><em>Recommended Theme: Kingdom Hearts: Destiny's Force<em>

* * *

><p><em>-Very well, then.-<em> The Endless said each word as if they were poison, _-If it isss a fight you want, then it isss a fight you ssshall get!-_ He aimed the staff at the group and shot forth a stream of fire.

"Incoming!" Red shouted as they all dived out of the way. He rolled once and quickly climbed back up to his feet before he looked back to check on the others. They had avoided the attack and were all unharmed. That was good to know. He glared at the Endless and shouted at it, "We're not going to go down without a fight! Ready Poli?"

"_Poliwrath!"_ The Pokémon called out.

Red nodded his head to his partner and pointed at Legion, "Alright, then let's show this thing what we can do! Ice Beam!"

The Poliwrath obeyed and shot a blue beam from its hand at the Endless. It was only about a few meters away from it before something stopped it in its tracks. Before either one of them knew it, the Ice Beam bounced right back at Poli, who avoided it just barely in time.

Red looked back at the Endless and saw for a quick second something flashing all around it. He soon heard Yellow calling out to Chuchu, "Use Thunder Shock, Chuchu!"

The Pikachu did just that, but the same thing happened and bounced the attack back at them. Yellow started to worry. How is it reflect their attacks if it isn't even bothering to move? She soon saw the same flash that Red saw and pieced together what it could be, "There's a barrier around it!

"A barrier?" Red repeated before Legion shot a thunderbolt at him. He moved out of the way and saw the earth explode where he once was. "How is it even making it?"

Saria leapt out of the way from another fire attack and soon joined up with the two, "It is solidifying the water molecules around it to create a defensive shield, much like the Blue Aquas. The barrier is resilient to all forms of attacks and protects Legion from all sides."

"So how do we break through?"

"It is not easy, but if we can concentrate our attacks on its weak points, it should be enough to break the barrier and leave it vulnerable."

The Endless roared out as it slammed the head of the staff on the ground, creating a shockwave that tore the very earth apart. They all moved out of the way as the rocks exploded from underneath them and hid behind the new cover as Legion began to shoot thunderbolt after thunderbolt at where they were.

Red dove down as a bolt grazed the top of his hat and groaned. "The problem is we can't do anything if he keeps shooting at us like that." Another explosion shook the area as pieces of rubble rained down on them. "If only we can distract him somehow."

As soon as he said that, Logan zipped by with blinding speed and struck the barrier several times with his sword. Legion soon lost interest in the trainers and focused its attention on the Vanguard, shooting multiple fireballs and Dark Bombs at him. Both girls looked at Red, who were quite surprised with the timing.

"I think we've found our distraction." Yellow said.

Saria soon began to explain to the two of them her plan. Even though Legion's _(A/N: There is actually more than one Legion in existence.)_ are able to create very powerful barriers that could block all kinds of attacks, they were nowhere near indestructible. Certain spots of the barriers used up more energy than the others to protect vital areas that are significant to the Endless, meaning that the ones that used up very little energy were the weak points. Specifically, one near the right shoulder, and one on the bottom left torso. If both those areas sustain enough damage, the barrier will disappear and leave the Endless vulnerable. Red told Saria that he'll have Snor attack the lower weak point with a Double-Edge while Yellow have Gravvy attack the other weak point with a Mega Punch. While they were doing that, Saria would attack Legion from the rear and keep it distracted so it won't have a chance to hurt either trainer's Pokémon.

After they finished discussing with the plan, they immediately went into action. Red sent out his Snorlax and commanded it to use Double-Edge, while at the same time Yellow commanded her Golem to use Mega Punch. Both Pokémon charged at the distracted Endless and struck both weak points simultaneously. The barrier began to crack where the attacks struck and started to lose pieces of itself. By then Legion had caught on to what they were doing and swung its staff, striking both Pokémon and sending them back. Yet the damage had already been done, for more and more pieces began to fall and broke into tiny fragments on the ground.

Unbeknownst to it, Logan had gotten himself in a good position from the opposite sides of the stands from where Saria was. The four tendrils coiled in front of Logan until they were all pointing at one another. An orb of energy surrounded by hundreds of smaller tendrils soon began to take shape as he took aim at the Endless. Then, as Red and Yellow watched him imitate a Deoxys using a Psycho Boost, he fired a Tendril Blast at the very centre of where the other two attacks hit and shattered the barrier completely, surprising the Endless.

Saria saw her opportunity and fired a beam of light at the shattered barrier. It struck the closest one and reflected off to the next one, then off to another, till eventually all the pieces were reflected. The Endless felt the searing pain of the light against its skin and roared out in pain. The beam ended after it grazed the side of Legion's face and vanished, revealing a bit of its skeletal frame.

Legion brought a hand up to its face and wiped the scar. It looked at the black blood and laughed psychotically before a green light enveloped the wound. The scar began to mend itself back together and was soon no more. _-Not bad. However__…__ it will take more than that to bring usss down.-_ He raised his hand up in the air and reformed the barrier, this time coating it in a clear, solid sheet of ice. _-Now, try and sssee if you can dessstroy thisss!-_

He raised the staff high up in the air before swinging it around him several times, unleashing multiple streaks of lightning towards the group. They evaded most of the attack, but the rest had managed to hit the two Pokémon and Logan. Red and Yellow called back their Pokémon into their Pokéballs and took cover with Saria as more thunderbolts rained down on them.

"I was afraid that this would happen." Saria began as she took another look at the Endless, "He has frozen the moisture around him and formed a barrier of crystal ice. Areas that would normally be weakened due to lack of energy are now completely blocked." A fireball flew right by their heads and crashed into the stands, leaving nothing but a massive charred mess in its way. Yellow heard Saria swear underneath her breath as she tended to Gravvy's injuries. "Krosias*_,_ if Logan was not in his Soul Form at the moment, he would have destroyed the barrier instantly with his pyrokinesis."

The last sentence sent an idea almost immediately to Red's mind. But he needed to be sure. He turned around to face Saria, his plan already beginning to take form in his head, "Wait a minute. Did you say that it will fall if we hit it with fire?"

"If you prefer the shorter and easier explanation as to what I just said moments ago, then yes."

He slammed his fist down onto an open palm and happily exclaimed, "That's it!"

Yellow's child-like curiosity kicked in as she turned to her friend, "What's it?"

"Think about it; all those Endless that fused together? They have control over different powers… powers that are similar to a Pokémon!" When he saw Yellow's face brightening up, he turned back to the Vanguard, "Quick, Saria! What abilities did the Endless have before they became crazy magic guy over there?"

Another thunderbolt struck their hiding place, causing them to cover their heads as more rubble fell on them, "Before they became Legion, each of them possessed the ability to manipulate and control the corresponding elements that relate to the clothing that they wear. Red Ignis' control fire, Blue Aquas – water, Green Foliums – grass and healing, Yellow Tonitruis – thunder and Dark Magus' – darkness." She looked at her human companion with a look of confusion in her eyes, "But what does that have to with-"

"There are seventeen different types in the Pokémon world that a Pokémon can be. Each type has an advantage and a disadvantage against another type." He pointed at the large Endless and continued, "Since that Endless is a fusion of them all, that means that he has to have a lot of weaknesses. And I have a hunch that those different colours on its body aren't just there for looks."

Yellow caught on to what he was saying and understood. She smiled at him before speaking with great interest, "That's a great idea, Red! If we can attack whatever part of its body that it's weak against, then we might be able to stop it before it destroys the Indigo Plateau!"

"And us with it." Red added, which caused Yellow to shudder. She didn't want to think of the things that could happen to them.

Saria waved her hand in front of them, bringing their attention back on her. "There is one problem with that plan of yours, Red. From what I recall from your friend Blue, neither of you have a Fire Pokémon with you. How are you going to destroy the barrier without them?"

"Ice-Types have more than one weakness," Red said before pulling out two Pokéballs from his pack while Yellow nodded towards Gravvy, who was feeling slightly better. "And we have just the right Pokémon who know how to bring it down."

Saria was greatly intrigued by the human's quick thinking and nodded to him. He was starting to think just like Logan. "Very well. Then let us put your plan into motion."

After the last thunderbolt flew by their heads, they vaulted over the rocks and charged. Red called out Poli and told it to use Focus Punch while Yellow did the same and told Gravvy to use Rollout*. Both attacks struck the barrier at the same time, but it did little than leave a few cracks on it. The Endless spun it's hand around and summoned a mass of leaves that began to spin around it like a tornado before he launched the attack at the Pokémon. The attack struck both Pokémon directly, knocking Gravvy out cold and heavily damaged Poli. Yellow called her Pokémon back and watched as Red threw the other Pokéball up in the air and summoned his Aerodactyl, who immediately performed a dive bomb and lashed out with a Dragon Claw.

The attack earned Aero a few more cracks on the barrier, but like the others, he was hit by a powerful thunderbolt and crashed on the ground, knocked out. A few beams of light hit the barrier from behind, forcing the Endless to ignore the trainer's and search for its attacker. It spotted Saria quite easily in the wide open, firing more energy blasts from her weapon.

By now Legion was starting to get annoyed by the Vanguard's attacks and decided to go for the one thing that few of its kind would ever do:

Fight her head-on.

Many Legions preferred to attack their enemies from afar with various elemental powers so they wouldn't have to worry about them getting too close. As such, they tend to have little to no combat experience. But this Legion wasn't like the others, and it knew why. The Dark Magus that acted as the main source and central part of the colony of minds within it possessed knowledge of various forms of martial arts and weaponry after the centuries it has spent travelling between worlds. So it became a complete surprise to Saria when she saw the Endless flying right at her with its weapon raised to the side before swinging it at her.

She reacted upon reflexes and blocked the attack, though she staggered back a bit from the blow. It was then that she reminded herself why Endless were known to be savages, for Legion now began to relentlessly attack her. She blocked each and every attack as fast as she could, staggering further and further back as she felt her own strength depleting. She had never expected this thing to go for the 'up close and personal' tactic. If she didn't do anything soon, her strength would be completely drained and the Endless would be right upon her.

Explosions snaked across Legion's body and obscured it's vision, forcing it to fall back. It's eyes glared around till they spotted Alpha on the other side of the stadium, holding several bombs in the shape of discs in his hand.

"**It takes more than a little psychic attack to bring me down, Endless!"** The robot stated before throwing the discs at it. They hit the barrier and exploded, enveloping the Endless in smoke. When Alpha saw Legion burst out with hatred written in its eyes, he mocked, **"If I were you, I'd keep my eyes open all the time. You know, to notice anything 'out of place'."**

Legion was confused for a moment before it saw something white flash above the drone. It looked up and saw the one thing that it really didn't want to see:

Logan, clinging onto the wall like some kind of human spider, with all four tendrils preparing for another Tendril Bomb.

No sooner was he spotted did Logan fire the blast at the damaged barrier and sprinted towards it, running along the ground so low it looked as though he was gliding. The tendrils grouped together and fired more Tendril Blasts at the Endless, damaging the barrier even further. It countered by using it's psychic powers and tore the earth apart before raising them high up in the air. Unfortunately, Logan was already coming up with a plan the second it did this and jumped to the closest one. The moment his feet touched the flying boulder, he zoomed like a jet to the next boulder, repeating the process over and over until he was nothing more than a human pinball, ricocheting off of everything.

Like the white comet that he was, he flew up in the air and struck the barrier with an axe kick. It couldn't take the blow like all of the other's and shattered, leaving Legion wide-open. Now that it was vulnerable, the four tendrils wrapped both of the Endless' arms, lifted it over Logan's head as if it weighed nothing, and slammed it back down on the ground.

This was Red and Yellow's cue. With Poli and Omny by their side, they commanded them to use Water Gun and attack the red portion of Legion's left arm. The dual water attack struck the arm, and within moments the results came in.

Legion cried out in pain as the Pokémon continued attacking. The Red Ignis' that were the first to get hit started to fade away, and then soon the surrounding Endless started to share a much similar fate. Legion shot electricity towards them in an attempt to get rid of them once and for all, but they merely dodged out of the way. The pain soon became unbearable and forced it to cry out even louder, causing the earth underneath it to explode and fly off in several directions. By now, a large hole was right in its left shoulder, barely clinging on to the body.

"**My turn!"** They heard Alpha shouting. He ran towards the injured arm and, to everyone's surprise, pulled out a bomb, went inside and came back out. Seconds later, a large explosion tore the arm off completely as it fell to the ground, Legion convulsing erratically. Black mist began to pour out like a waterfall, letting them all know that it was gravely hurt.

Then, the dismembered arm did the one thing nobody expected it to.

It moved.

More than just moved, to be precise. It shook and punched the ground as the bond between it and the body were now broken, causing pieces of it to convulse. All of the Endless that made it up were jettison out as it became nothing more than a purple cloud, none of them ever getting back up. When they saw the last Endless disappear, the arm was no more.

Red fistpumped to the air, completely pleased, "It worked!"

"I knew you weren't so dense!" Yellow happily cheered it out, before quickly realizing what she said and lowered the hat down to her face. Out of the edge of her line of sight, she saw Legion stirring out of its pain and glared at them with daggers before picking up its staff. She let go of her hat and tugged on Red's sleeve, whose attention was away from the very, VERY pissed Endless. "Uh… Red?"

"Hm. What is–WWWWHHHHHHOOOOOOAAAAAAA!" He screamed out before he grabbed Yellow and jumped out of the way before the staff slammed down on the stop the two were standing just a second ago.

The loss of balance, followed by the sudden weight change, caused the two to roll along the ground until they finally stopped. Red was lying on his back with his cap slightly off, while Yellow lied on top of him with her straw hat right beside them. She was trembling like a quake, he could easily tell from the way her body shook against his arms. She began to calm down after feeling the warm reassurance from his arms and slowly looked up at him…

…and saw that their faces were only a few centimeters away.

Her face blushed heavily as she noticed the 'situation' that they were in. "Uh… I…"

For a split second, Yellow thought that she saw Red blushing slightly when he reached back to scratch his head. But at the moment, she was still feeling very embarrassed to even notice it. "Awkward moment, huh?" Red said, trying to ease the uncomfortable silence.

A deafening roar brought them out of the moment, reminded them that the Endless was still alive. Red turned to see Legion raising its staff up in the air, crackling with electricity. He knew exactly what was going on and grabbed Yellow again before rolling to the side. The staff began to illuminate and shot hundreds of thunderbolts all around the stadium, some of them even began to circle around, destroying everything in their path. It looked down at the two trainers who were on the ground and slowly approached them, its hatred growing with each passing second. Alpha lunged from behind in an attempt to immobilize the Endless, but was caught by a psychic field and flung backwards into the stands. It felt the two Vanguard's presences as they tried to attack from the side, but a quick backhand sent them back to a wall.

The Endless was now right on top of them, and their backs were against the wall. Red looked over and saw that both Poli and Omny had been knocked out by the lightning. Darkness surrounded Legion like a vile aura and it's eyes screamed out in fury. It pointed it's staff at them, fire and lightning emanating from the very end.

_-Insssignificant humansss!-_ It screamed the words out inside of their minds, threatening to tear them apart from the inside, _-You will all sssuffer by our hand for what you've done!-_ The orb glowed so bright that it blinded the two trainers. They could feel the searing hear from it just from where they were. It was preparing for another fire attack. Red loomed over Yellow, hoping to protect her with his life, while trying to find a way for them to escape.

There were none. They were trapped like a couple of Rattata's.

Legion felt their fear and smirked evilly. It felt so good to feel one's fear before they died. _-Now,- _It said as it pulled the staff back slightly, ready to impale the two. _-You. Will. DI-!-_

"_Raticate!"_

The cry broke the Endless' concentration. The staff was about a foot distance away from Red, letting him feel the searing heat die down slowly. Legion looked around for whatever distracted it before it felt something soft on its shoulder. It looked down and saw a Raticate looking back at it with curiosity. The stared at one another with slight confusion before Legion saw the Pokémon grinning.

It opened its mouth to reveal the two large teeth attached to its upper jaw. Legion's eyes flew wide open at the size of them and swore underneath its breath. Before it could respond, the Pokémon bit down on its shoulder with a Hyper Fang. Hard.

Right upon contact, the arm broke free from the body and began to fall to the ground. Raticate jumped off in time and landed beside Yellow, spitting out the strange taste in its mouth.

_-GRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!-_

Legion screamed out in pain as more black mist came out of its newly made wound. The arm began to do the same thing the other arm did and vanished when the last Endless was no more. Now with nothing to use it, the staff was enveloped by its own fire and was no more.

Weakened and armless, Legion began to feel dizzy and stumbled a couple of times. Through its blurry vision, it saw the two trainers and their Pokémon moving up the stands to get a better position. It felt something latch on to its neck and swinging around like a monkey. Soon, it saw Logan in its line of sight. He spun around and shot two tendrils towards its left eye. The tendrils pierced through the crimson eye, causing Legion to cry out in even more pain. A quick tug made it realize that Logan wasn't done yet and saw the Vanguard zooming right at him. He punched it between the eyes with enough force to rip the tendrils out painfully and send it sailing backwards into a wall.

Logan landed on his feet and jumped over to where the others were joining up. The two trainers and their Pokémon were cheering happily as they hugged one another, celebrating their victory.

"We did it!" Yellow said happily as she wrapped her arms around Ratty, "You were amazing out there, Ratty!"

"_Raticate! (Thanks!)" _The Pokémon replied.

Logan smiled in agreement behind his mask. It was the first time that either of them had faced that kind of Endless, and they had all prevailed. So if that was the case, then why did it feel as though the fight was a little _too _easy?

He saw Red wrapping his arms around Yellow and twirling her around before he shouted out, "It's all over, now!"

"No."

All eyes were on Saria as she glared at the spot where Legion was. Her tone grew more serious as the next words that came out of her mouth sent shivers down their spines, "It is only the beginning."

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Legion's eyes flared open and he sprung back up. Everyone except for her and Alpha looked in shock as the Endless screamed out to the heavens and unleashed a massive discharge of electricity. It shifted its eyes over to them and spoke, each worded dipped with venom.

_-Ssso, you think that you've won? You think that you have defeated USSS!? We. Are. LEGION! We are sssuperior! We are almighty! We are the massstersss of the arcane! Even without our armsss, we can ssstill dessstroy you!-_ It's eyes flashed once more as the ground began to shake. _-Witnessssss the power bessstowed upon usss by our massster! Behold! Our TRUE POWER!-_

The ground tore itself apart as pipes sprouted out. Water began to pour out upon the stadium and quickly surrounded Legion. Logan reacted and leapt towards it, attempting to finish the Endless for good, but was smacked by a watery fist and crashed into a pile of rubble. The water began to rise up and envelop the Endless' body, filling up the empty space inside and remaking the arms. The head, which could no remain where it was, sprouted out from underneath the hood and revealed its skeletal self, cackling like the savage it was on top of its newly made serpent-like neck. The stadium quickly began to fill up with water until the lower stands were now submerged. The blood that leaked out of its injured eye tainted the water black, making the Endless itself look like a black sludge in the perfectly blue water.

* * *

><p><em>Recommended Theme: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon 2: Primal Dialga Remix<em>

* * *

><p>The Legion that they fought before was no longer there, but now replaced by something even more monstrous than ever. <em>-Thisss… isss where… you will all… DIE!-<em>

Everyone moved out of the way as several watery tendrils slammed down on the spot they were once standing and began to trash the stadium. Red saw one coming from behind and dove down with Yellow before the tendril sailed over their heads. Another one was about to slam down on them, but something exploded on the side and caused the tendril to collapse. They looked over and saw Alpha throwing more bombs at it, yet they seemed to have no effect. All they did was make it even angrier. It swung its massive arm back and struck the robot, sending him all the way through the doors that lead to the next part of the building.

There was movement coming from the corner of its eye. It turned and saw Logan climbing out of the rubble, holding his head as he tried to get rid of the headache that was there. Legion smiled. Now was its chance to destroy him. The tendrils ignored the trainers and went straight for Logan.

He blindly swung his sword at them, cutting many of them down to size. In a fraction of a second he did it again, cutting down even more. More and more tendrils lashed out, ready to impale him, but they all met the same fate. Soon it was nothing but a blur between the two as the tendrils would try to move closer to kill him, but would end up getting chopped instead.

Taking this to his advantage, Red picked Yellow up and called out Pika, "That thing's body is entirely made out of water. I'll bet it wouldn't like having a few thousand bolts inside of it."

Yellow caught on to what he was saying and called out Chuchu. The two Pikachus stood side by side and waited for their trainer's commands. "As long as Logan keeps it distracted, we can hit it with a few Thunder Bolt attacks. That should be enough to bring it down."

"Right." She agreed before they began making their way towards someplace dry. No matter what spot they would hit the Endless, they surely did not want to be in the water when the electricity hits.

* * *

><p>Legion started to grow annoyed and brought its fist down. But Logan jumped out of the way and began to skate across the arm, ready to attack the head. Pillars began to erupt from the arm as they halted his progress, but like before, they were cut down.<p>

The Endless opened its mouth and released a torrent of water at the Vanguard. He raised his sword up to block the attack, but even then it proved to be too powerful and he was blown away, slamming against the high wall before he crashed on the ground, the sword imbedding itself in the ground right beside him.

Dealing with some of the tendrils on her own, Saria felt Logan's presence in danger and turned around just in time to see him falling. She swiped her weapon at the three that were behind her and quickly began to make her way over to him.

The Endless turned around to deal with the trainers again, but saw the two Electric Mouses with them. Now it began to panic. It knew what these two were capable of from the energy it felt from their bodies, and if it allowed even one of their attacks to hit it, then there was no way that it would win. It needed to find some way to prevent them from attacking it in general. He spotted Saria running over to Logan's position out of the corner of its eye and smirked. _Perfect._ It said before its left hand shot forth.

Yellow was the first to see the attack… and gasped when she saw that it was heading straight for Saria. And she didn't even notice it coming.

"SARIA! LOOK OUT!" She screamed out.

It was too late. By the time Saria heard the shout and turned to look, the hand had already caught her. She remained suspended in the air for a few seconds before the hand retreated back to the body. Yellow watched with horror as she saw Saria slowly moving across the watery body until she was at the stomach of the beast. She began to swing her weapon around, trying to break free from her confinement, but it was no use. She could feel the pressure pushing against her from all sides and felt her need for her air rising. The weapon was released from her hand as she brought it up to cover her mouth. She shot a Dark Ball in front of her, but it bounced back, forcing her to bring up a barrier so she wouldn't get hit by her own attack.

Had any one of them been paying more attention, they would have seen Logan's right eye flown right open when he heard the shout and witnessed Saria being captured.

"Oh no…" Red said as he saw the whole thing happen, "We can't attack it if Saria's still in there. We need to go help her!"

"How?" Yellow asked as she finally pried her eyes away from the scene, "We'll only end up getting trapped ourselves!"

"Then what's your plan for getting her out of there?"

"I… uh… well… ah…" She stammered.

A screeching sound came from behind and made the two trainers look back. There, they saw Logan, whose tendrils were spazzing out as if they were being electrocuted, and his green eye was blazing in anger. They slammed down on the ground and propelled him towards the monstrosity, his sword held up in front so that it would pierce through and give him an opening. The tendrils spun around the sheathed weapon like a drill, making it easier to pierce through Legion's body and plunged into the black depths.

Feeling the new environment around him now, Logan held the sword in front of him with both hands like a railing and the tendrils began to rotate behind him, making him swim around a little easily. His green eye scanned the water for any signs of his friend as he continued searching. It was a pain, to be honest. Not only was it difficult to see in the darkened water, but it was actually a lot more difficult to find her since she blended in with the water perfectly. He thought he entered the creature from the side and was close to her location, but he must have miscalculated and ended up being farther away from her.

He eventually spotted her after twenty seconds of swimming around up ahead. He swam up to her and quickly checked her pulse. It was very faint and beating at a slow rate. He swore at himself mentally as the tendrils looked at one another, expecting one of them to have an idea. One of them eventually did and whispered it to Logan. He agreed with it, but knew that things would end up being awkward when she wakes up.

He held her close to him and cupped his hand underneath her chin. He slowly lifted it up to his and placed his lips against hers. Knowing that their mouths were now connected, he began to breathe out as much air as he possibly could inside of her so she wouldn't drown. Her eyes slowly began to open, letting her see her armoured friend in front of her. More of her strength began to return, as well as her sense of feeling, and she was now beginning to feel something against her lips. Her eyes were wide open and she could finally see saw Logan kissing her.

When he noticed that Saria was now wide awake, he pulled back slightly and placed his hand over her mouth. She instantly realized what he was doing and nodded her head, albeit with a slight blush on her face. He returned the nod and held onto his weapon tightly, glaring at something up ahead.

* * *

><p>Legion advanced towards Red and Yellow, smiling like a madman at their predicament. As long as the Vanguard girl was still inside of him, they would never dare to attack it without putting her in danger.<p>

_-Foolisssh humansss!- _It said gleefully, _-Thisss isss exactly why your kind isss ssso weak! Compassssssion hasss alwaysss been your weaknessssss! Your love for your friendsss isss the reassson why you are inferior compared to usss!-_

It was now Yellow's turn to express her anger towards the creature. "How could you say that?! Compassion is what makes us stronger! It's because of our love for our friends and the Pokémon around us that we continue to protect our home from monsters like you! If we just let you go and do whatever you want, then there wouldn't be a home left to go back to!"

The Endless leaned its bony head forward, causing Yellow to hide behind Red, _-Brave wordsss coming from one who isss ssso easssy to feel fear.-_

"Hey! You leave her out of this, you skeletal freak!" Red threatened the Endless as he put himself in-between it and Yellow.

Legion roared at his face, steam beginning to come out of its mouth. _-Jussst for that, you'll die firssst!-_ It's arm took on the shape of a massive blade as it reared it back.

A large slash wound appeared on its stomach, diverting the Endless, and the trainer's attentions towards it. Another cut soon appeared after the first, followed by a few more. By now, dozens of slashes raked Legion's body, as some of the water inside of it began to leak out of the wounds. A final slash opened up the stomach and violently released a torrent of water. Logan, who had Saria in his arms, jumped out and landed high up on the stands, setting his friend down gently as she began to cough up the water that still remained in her lungs. He looked back and saw that the Endless was busy trying to cover up the wound, and not paying any attention to the two Pikachus nearby.

Both trainer's saw their opening and pointed at the Endless, "Alright Pika!" "Chuchu!" They both said in unison.

"THUNDER BOLT!"

The yellow mouses shot forks of electricity from their bodies and towards the watery creature. They bounced around the air for a few moments before crashing down. Legion cried out as the electricity turned it and all the water around it into a living battery. Its scream echoed around the stadium and beyond.

With its powers out of control, the water began to dissolve and drain, leaving behind the armless giant they had fought before. Logan decided to finish it off and finally pulled the sword out of its sheath. He held both sheath and blade in his hands and lunged at the Endless. It looked over at him and screamed out a loud 'NO!' before it was silenced.

Logan swung both weapons on the Endless and appeared on the other side. Everything was quiet for a few seconds before Legion's body was ravaged by hundreds of scars. It shook and convulsed as more and more slash marks appeared in a matter of seconds. It couldn't all the damage done to it and exploded, forcing all of the Endless that made it up to break free. They crashed all around the stadium, some of them even landing right beside Red and Yellow before they all vanished.

The only thing that still remained was a lone Dark Magus, who stood at the very centre of the torn battlefield. It looked up at the two trainers and raised its hand weakly, trying to prepare another dark attack. Its vision tunnelled before its arm slump down to its side, finally giving in to its injuries. It slowly began to rise up in the air and vanished in a mist of black, leaving no trace of its existence anywhere. The clouds began to part away from one another and revealed the blue sky and the radiant sun.

Red and Yellow quickly ran over to where Saria was and saw Logan jumping back over to them. It still amazed them that he was able to leap from one side of the stadium to the next with no problem. They climbed up the stands and walked up to their friends.

"You okay, Saria?" Yellow asked as Logan carefully lifted the mentioned Vanguard up to her feet. She stumbled forward, but a hand placed on her chest kept her from falling.

She brought her hand up to her mouth and coughed violently. Even though there was no water left in her lungs, she still felt as though they were on fire. "I am… _(Cough)_… a-alright. Thanks to Logan." She looked up at her friend with a smile, who happily returned it with his own behind his mask. The white tendrils around his neck hovered over to Saria and began to rub against her cheek affectionately, causing her to giggle.

Yellow smiled at the sight and turned around to hug Red, "We won, Red! We won!"

He laughed at her excitement and returned the hug, "You were amazing when you stood up against that thing!" He said, remembering the sight of his close friend shouting at Legion, "I didn't know you had it in you!"

"_(Giggle)_ Neither did I!"

They both stayed that way for a while, neither one of them letting go. They laughed happily at their victory, not noticing that they were continuing to close the distance between their faces.

A sharp cough brought them out of their thoughts and made them turn around to see Alpha, accompanied by Blaine and Professor Oak, staring at them with mild amusement in his optics. **"Getting well acquainted with one another, are we?"**

Confused as to what he meant, they both looked at each and then down to see how close they were hugging each other. They quickly let go and looked to the sides, a blush appearing on both their faces. Yellow began to fidget with her hands while Red scratched the back of his head, both embarrassed slightly.

Red looked back at Yellow and noticed her shivering slightly. Her clothes were all drenched and sticking to her body like tape, and her straw hat was crooked. She was wet from head to toe, most likely from when Legion's body began to break apart. He removed his shirt and put it around Yellow's shoulders.

She gasped out loudly when she felt Red's hands against her neck, but soon felt something soft around her. She looked over and saw that she was wearing his vest, and that he had nothing over his black t-shirt. "Wha-?" She began before Red interrupted.

"You looked like you needed it. It's not much, but it should keep you dry."

She took another glance at the vest before looking back at him, a small smile spread across her face, "Thank you."

Red returned it and looked back at the others, and quickly took notice at what was going on. He tapped Yellow slightly and pointed her to where their friends were, "It seems I'm not the only one with the same idea."

She followed his finger and saw that, indeed, they weren't the only one who did this. Logan removed the blue scarf and wrapped it around Saria's neck. The four tendrils took notice and curled up around her, trying their best to keep her as warm as possible. She chuckled at the affection and patted one on the 'head'. "Thank you all. I really appreciate this." She received several nods of confirmation before they curled around her again.

Movement from the side told them that Professor oak and Blaine had joined up with them. "Thank goodness you're all okay." Oak said as he inspected the damage around the stadium, "Arceus. I can see why this meeting is important. Look at all the devastation they did." He shook his head, deeply furious at the Endless.

"That was quite a fight you all put out there." Blaine added, "We would have gladly helped you out, but it seems that that psychic blast that Legion used did a lot more than launch us across the stadium."

Yellow smiled as she and Red walked over to them, "We're just glad that you're both okay. If we didn't come here sooner…" She stopped talking as the thoughts of what could happen to them began to pour into her head.

"Let's not dwell on those kinds of thoughts," Oak said, "Right now, let's just be thankful that we're still here."

Red took a second look at the damage and sighed, "It's too bad about the stadium, though. A lot of people were hoping to see some Pokémon matches."

"Not to worry." A voice called out.

They all turned and saw Saria smiling at them as Logan began making his way to the centre of the field, "Logan has just informed me that he will personally do the repairs for you as thanks for helping him in defeating Legion."

"How?" Red asked.

"Wait, and you will see."

They did so, and watched as Logan positioned himself at the very centre of the makeshift battlefield. He observed the damage around him, indicating what caused it and how deep and complicated it would be to repair it. He crouched down to one knee and rubbed the surface of the earth, doing something that the others don't know yet. He clapped his hands together, rubbed them together to get the friction going, and placed them on the ground.

Right as his hands made contact, a giant version of the symbol on his necklace appeared all around him. It glowed for a second before it sent out a pulse wave that stretched across the stadium and beyond. Areas that have been damaged began to glow before they began to materialize. The ground and the walls began to mend themselves together till there was nothing left. The stands that were once destroyed now came back out of thin air and stood proud across the stadium, overlooking the silent field.

The pulse had done more than repair the stadium. Both trainers watched as their Pokémon, in and out of their Pokéballs, began to glow white, as well as some areas on their own bodies. They looked over and saw that the same thing was happening to Oak, Blaine and Saria. The lights stayed on them for a moment before they all vanished. They took one look at one another and saw that all the injuries that were on them were now gone.

Logan stood up from where he was and jumped back to where the others were. He could tell from the awed expressions on their faces that he did a good job.

It was Red who finally broken the silence, "You… What… How did you…?"

Alpha laughed to himself before speaking to the black-haired teen, **"Reconstruction."**

"Re…contraction?" Yellow asked, only to realize with embarrassment that she accidentally mispronounced it.

"_**Reconstruction**_**."** He corrected her, **"It's an ability that Logan can use while he's in Soul Form. It emits a large pulse wave of energy that repairs any broken inanimate objects or heals any organic tissue within its radius."**

"So he is able to repair _anything_ and anyone near him?" Professor Oak asked, obviously intrigued by this phenomenal.

Saria shook her head, "Not exactly. The pulse waves have a limited range so they cannot spread out that far, and they take up a lot of energy from whoever uses it." She pointed this out as she nodded her head towards Logan, who was showing signs of exhaustion from the way he was breathing, "Plus, the pulse waves cannot heal injuries that are serious or otherwise fatal, nor remove any toxic bacteria that are inside of you. Nor can they heal whoever uses it."

Blaine stopped her from continuing on as he held up his hand to her, "Wait a minute. Are you saying that by using this ability, Logan is endangering himself with all the concentration that he must do and could lose his life in the process?"

They all became silent for a few moments before Saria broke it again. "Y-Yes." She said rather hesitantly, "If Logan is not strong enough to handle all the energy that is being released, the damages that he is trying to repair could rebound right back at him and make them as his own."

"Oh…" Yellow said meekly. She hung her head slightly as the information began to pile up in her head. In some way, this sounded almost like her when she was using her powers. The difference being was that she would collapse from exhaustion if she used too much. Logan's case was much more life-threatening then hers.

Strong, yet sleek arms wrapped around Saria and brought her up, causing her to yelp in surprise. Everyone watched as Logan lifted her up and placed her gently until she was on his back. He placed his hands underneath her legs so she wouldn't slip and motioned for her to wrap her arms around his neck.

"What in the Gods names are you doing, Logan?" Saria asked, not bothering to hide neither the shock in her voice, nor the blush on her face. Her answer was him looking back at her in stock silence, his face portraying no emotion behind the mask except for his right eye, which looked as though it was screaming out to her. She understood what it was saying and shook her head, "I am fine, Logan. I can walk back to Pallet Town with no assistance."

A glare that would fit a parent that was talking to their child gleamed in his eye. She sighed out loud. He was truly a stubborn Vanguard. "You never know when to take no for an answer." He nodded to her, feeling slightly amused by her response. "Well, I guess I am feeling a little tired."

"I think we're _all_ feeling a little worn out, Saria." Red corrected her as he called back his Pokémon back into their Pokéballs. He wrapped his arm around Yellow and brought her close, trying to keep her warm, and looked back at the Professors and robot. "Hope your meeting goes well, guys. And hopefully there won't be any Endless to bring in some complaints."

They slightly laughed at his joke before Blaine replied back, "You kids have a safe trip back home. We'll let you know how it went."

They waved back to them before going through the doors that led to the front foyer. Red whistled the moment he took a look inside. Even in here, there were no damages or any indication that there was once a fight. The giant hole that was on the ceiling was also gone and all the counters and tables that were nearby were standing back up.

"Wow. That Reconstruction ability of yours is really powerful. I didn't expect it to patch all this up so fast." He said to the Vanguard.

He said nothing, but the tendrils around Saria's neck did through low humming sound.

Yellow shielded her eyes as they stepped out the front door and saw the vast arrangement of statues and flora that were around. She did a quick take in her head and remembered that the road ahead of them led straight to Viridian City, and then eventually Pallet Town. All that in total, and it should take more than half an hour to get home. A low growling sound came from the pit of her stomach, reminding her that she did not yet have breakfast when she woke up. She looked up at Red, seeing that trademark smile on his face. She blushed almost instantly upon seeing it and spoke, "You know, Red… I-It'll take a while… before w-we make it to Pallet Town. Should we maybe stop by Viridian City… a-and grab something to eat?"

Red looked down at her and moved his hand along her hair, ruffling it a bit, "Why not? I am feeling kind of hungry since yesterday. Plus, it'll let us spend some more quality time together."

She blushed as soon as she heard that, as did Red. Though they both quickly looked away from one another so they couldn't see. "…Uhhh… O-Okay…" She stammered sheepishly. She began to think of all the things that could possibly happen if they go to a diner, and all of them made her blush even more. Why was it that every time she wanted to be with Red just to talk with him, her mind always perceived that as a 'date'? She didn't even know what to do when in a date, and she sure as hell never been in one. Red was the first boy she ever liked, maybe the ONLY boy she will _ever_ like in her life.

She heard whispering and turned around to see Logan, who was giving her a thumbs up while Saria stared at them, lost in thought. She couldn't help but smile. Logan really did believe in her. He really believed that she could tell Red the truth. She found herself lost in thought as she watched the two Vanguards diverge into a conversation, neither one of them looking at the trainers. Seeing Saria being carried by Logan like a child, seeing the small blush on her face and the amused glint in Logan's eye past all the buried sorrow, they looked really cute together.

_Now I'm really glad that we met them._ She mused to herself before looking up to the road ahead.

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><p>Krosias: Vanguard swear word. Translated, it means 'Shit'.<p>

Qurasion Spiders: Spider-like creatures that inhabited Valkeron. They possess no, but can overwhelm much larger enemies in massive numbers. They are classified as pests to all Vanguards due to their unusually high birthrate and their tendency to steal food.

* (A/N: In this chapter, I gave Gravvy Rollout since he is the only Pokémon in Yellow's team that has a chance to beat Ice Pokémon. Unfortunately, I looked up his moves on Bulbapedia and it turns out that he has no Rock-type moves. So I decided to give him Rollout. Just to clarify if anyone was confused about it.)

KH - Destiny's Force: _/watch?v=2VJ3Jc6H3Jg_

PMD2 - Primal Dialga Remix: _/watch?v=poiqPQpiTN0_

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><p><strong>(AN: Reviews and critiques are always welcomed.)**


	15. Icy Confrontation

**(A/N: I decided to change things up a little bit and made a chapter focusing only on David and Brady to show off more of their character and personality. I figured since they didn't get enough 'screen time' on previous chapters, I decided to do so for this one. In this chapter, you get to see more of Brady's 'jock-like' personality and why he is considered to be the 'Brock' of this story when it comes to women, and a little more insight on David's cold and rather ruthless personality. If you guys want to see more of these kinds of chapters focusing on a few individuals and their interactions with one another, let me know. Another than that, enjoy.**

**I should also point out something really quick; there are a few strong swear words in this chapter since I have seen some stories where, even though their Rated T and do not have the mature content warning, they still have a few strong ones in them** _(By this point, you guys are already used to me putting in the word 'shit' since that's pretty much a common word to hear from anime shows, like Inuyasha.)_**Just to let you know that there is a swear warning on this one, so the T rating is a little higher than it should be.)**

**~Neoshadow-574**

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 14: Icy Confrontation<span>**

_Viridian Forest, A few minutes after Legion's defeat…, Normal POV_

David scanned the tree in front of him with his icy blue eyes, looking past the bark exterior. The wind blew by as the leaves of the vast forest rustled and streams of light poked through the thick canopy. Wild Pokémon climbed up to their nests or along the ground, searching for any delicious food or going back to their families. Their cries echoed all around him, mimicking the perfect sounds of an actual forest from his home world. If the others were here at the moment, they would have stopped what they were doing and admired the scenery, maybe even lie down on the ground and take a little nap underneath the shade of the trees.

Unfortunately, David was by no means like the others. He didn't come to the forest to appreciate nature. In reality, he _despised_ it. He saw nature as an affront to his ambition for science and for the greater good of humanity. It was the main reason why he hated those who cared about nature and the animals who lived in these _wildlife_ ecosystems, like Amanda. Oh, how that girl always got on his nerves. If he was the leader of the group and not Logan, he would have killed her right where she stood or jettison her out into space just to shut her up.

He had come to the forest after looking over the data he acquired from Yellow back at Celadon. At first, he saw her as another weak-willed human with an obsessive love to that so-called_ 'Champion'_. Naïve, too, since she was like a damn child, and he hated children. Too noisy and needy. They always get in the way of his work. He had even thought about freezing the temperature around her and giving her a vicious cold just to get rid of his boredom.

But soon he became intrigued by her. Not from her looks, oh god no. He hated blondes even more than children, but from her power. After detecting the energy inside of her body, he began to do a little _more_ research and learned that she was one of the few children born from the Viridian Forest who received psychic powers. These powers included lifting or moving small objects, healing, communicating with Pokémon _(Which he thought was a terrible power)_ and the one he was really interested in; the power to skyrocket a Pokémon's levels and make them much stronger.

After returning from Celadon, David began to work and went to the Viridian Forest in search of any energy deposits that could be in the forest. He theorized that, if he could find some way to tap into whatever kind of energy that this forest had and had given it to people like Yellow, he could use that energy to make himself stronger. That way, not only would he be able to take back their world from the Endless and the Brotherhood, but he would also cherish the moment when he shows Logan how much of a pathetic leader he is.

Despite what everything Logan said about the two of them being _friends_, he was by no means friends with that arrogant and weak-willed Vanguard. The old David that used to respect him and considered him as a brother died long ago, when he finally learned of his calling. If he had the choice, he would rather become an Endless than be friends with that grieving husk.

His motion trackers built inside of his head picked up on movement coming from behind. And from the way the blip moved quickly to his position, he could only think of one person capable of attaining such speeds.

And he _loathed _that person with the burning passion of a thousand fiery suns.

The blip stopped just as it was right behind him, a powerful gust of wind blowing by as a result. He didn't need to look behind at whoever was disrupting his work to know who it was, since there was no mistaking that overconfident air that clung onto him.

"Yo, David!" Brady exclaimed right up close to him. Had it been anyone else, their ears would have been hurting by now. "Ya'll never guess what happened! I was just doing a jog around the region and I stop by Celadon City when I saw a beautiful redheaded girl in some very _snazzy_ clothes!"

David growled mentally as Brady went on and on about the girl he met. What was Brady's obsession with women? Hasn't he yet realized that no women in the entire universe, or even in all of existence, would ever go out with a perverted lunatic like him? Just hearing him talk about the girls he met only made David want to kill him even more.

_I am surrounded by idiots._ He thought to himself. He tried to continue on with his work and brought the device closer to the tree, but Brady's egotistic voice broke through his train of concentration. His eye twitched as electricity began to travel along his free arm. In less than a second, he got up at full height and glared down at the human, his words matching the viciousness and coldness of the ice that he controlled, "If you do not shut up about women in less than three seconds, I will make you into a living conductor for electricity!"

Brady jumped back from the threat and looked at his friend. He was told by Amanda that David had a tendency to be left alone when he was in the middle of something, and that he had zero tolerance for people interrupting him. And even though he had done this a few times before just to tease him (At least he thought it was teasing), there was no mistaking the venomous tone that was in David's voice, as if he really was going to kill him.

So, to play it safe, Brady raised his hands up and spoke quietly, "Alright, alright, David. I get it. No talking about women when around ya. But that wasn't the reason why I came here."

"Then what?!"

"Like I said, I stopped by Celadon City when I saw this girl, and the TV's at the Electronics Store turned on to that news channel. There was a massive fight happening at the Indigo Plateau, from what the crowd was saying, so I went in to take a closer look, and I see Logan and Saria teaming up with Red and Yellow and fighting against this massive Endless! And I mean massive! It was like half the size of that arena thingy in the middle of the stadium and-"

Electricity danced along David's palm as he leaned closer to the human, "Is that what you came here for? To inform _me _of what our so-called friends are doing?"

He noticed the way he said the question and glared at the titan, "What are ya talking about? They just helped those two trainers save their world from a giant Endless! I think a lot of people would appreciate them for what they did."

"Have you forgotten the reason why we are even on this back-water planet?!" David demanded, "Have you forgotten that we were driven out of our home by the Endless and have to live in that floating scrap heap that outdated drone calls the Oracle Wing? Have you forgotten that our _'leader'_ has not done anything for us to take back our world and free us from this accursed fate?!" His face was now within breathing distance as he brought his electrified hand up, illuminating his robotic face in a bluish glow, "I do not care whether or not Logan and Saria did a _heroic_ deed and save a pitiful excuse of a planet for weak-willed humans who can't even defend themselves! And I most certainly do not care about our _'friends'_ or what kind of trouble they are in! If it's their problem, they can deal with it themselves! I have far more important matters to attend to!" He turned away from Brady and walked back to the same tree he was scanning earlier, looking down at the device in his hand.

Brady was unfazed by the conversation, and soon his arrogance took over as he walked up to him, "And what would be more important than our friends? Studying trees? There's already some onboard the ship!"

"It is not the trees I am interested in, you lug-headed buffoon!"

"Then what is it?"

David scoffed underneath his breath, "If you really must know, I am scanning the forest to locate caches of energy that this place is known for; the same energy that courses through Yellow's body like her lifeblood."

"Uh huh." Brady said nonchalantly. He really didn't care much about all this science stuff. He was more of a sports kind of guy. But, he couldn't help but be a little bit interested in what David was going at. "And this is important because?"

"Think about it, you imbecile!" David shouted. "Based on the data records of this world that I have acquired, there have been three people recorded so far who were born in the Viridian Forest and received its powers. There is Yellow Caballero, Lance, the former leader of the Elite Four, and Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket. The first two have displayed their powers numerous times in the past, while the third has yet to show his. These powers range from telekinesis over small objects, healing injuries, communicating with Pokémon, and making Pokémon become stronger."

"And how is that _good_?"

"It's _good_ because, if I can find a way to tap into the energy deposits that are within the roots of the forest, extract some samples, and test them, I can administer them into our systems and make us stronger. That way, we can finally return to Earth and take it back from the Endless and the Brotherhood! And _I_ will finally prove Logan how much of an incapable leader he truly is! Hahahaha! Hahahahahahaha!" He held his arms out to the sides as he began to laugh maniacally, something that was very common for _'mad'_ scientists like David.

Brady sighed. He should have known David would be interested in something like this. He was always obsessed with power. And whenever he had the chance, he would take that power – by any means necessary. "Look, David. I'm not one to nag or anything. That's more like Saria's kind of job. But this whole 'obtaining power' fiasco is getting out of hand. Logan said-"

A silver blur from the side interrupted him and sucker punched him across the face. He tumbled across the earth before slamming against the trunk of the tree that was behind them and slid down, coughing heavily from the attack. "I DO NOT CARE WHAT HE TELLS US!" He heard David shouting.

He wiped the blood that was on his lips as he saw David's shadow looming over him. He looked up and glared at his friend before he continued, "How long will it take before you get it through your thick skull?! Logan possesses the power that rivals that of a God, and he hardly has the knowledge to use it! One false move, and he could easily destroy this entire region _and_ us with it in a heartbeat! People like that do not even deserve to be on the top! Rather, they belong on the ground, where they should be stepped on like the vermin that they are!" He grabbed Brady by the collar of his shirt and slammed his back against the tree, causing him to cringe slightly, "Even together, we are not as powerful as he is, and he knows it! Why else do you think he wants to keep us in the dark while he is out there fighting our battles?! He sees us as weak and inferior compared to him, and yet, he is too afraid to admit that he himself is weak!"

His free hand brought the device closer to Brady for him to see, "But with this, and all the energy in the Viridian Forest, we can ascend to new heights and show that worthless Vanguard that we are superior! It is our duty as _humans_!"

Brady's hands were wrapped around David's wrist, trying his best to push the cold vice grip away from him. Yet even in his predicament, he could not help but laugh. His laugh echoed across the forest, causing David's aggression to flare. He pulled the human closer to him and practically screamed at his face, "What is so damn funny?!"

He laughed for a few more seconds before he replied, "Is that… what this is all about? Because Logan is an alien, and you don't like that?" He laughed even harder as his wide grin spread across his face again, "Talk about being xenophobic to your best friend. That's cold, even for you, Scrap Head."

He felt his body being thrown like a ragdoll and skidded across the ground on his side. He slowly got up, shaking away the pain that was around him, while David stayed where he was, eyeing him like he was trash. "Of course." He sneered before going back to the tree he was scanning before, "You of all people wouldn't understand, since there is practically nothing up there."

Brady got up to his feet and dusted his arms off, coughing a few times as he did. He stayed where he was and glared at David's back, a cocky grin still on his face, "Okay, I'll admit; I'm not as smart as the others are. Hell, I'm practically as sharp as a bowling ball."

"A valid answer." David said without looking back.

"And I may not be as strong as the others…"

"Another correct answer."

"And heck, it's cool being super fast and all, but even then there's a limit to using it…"

"You're point being?"

Brady growled underneath his breath before getting straight to the point, "My _point_ being is that even with all those things, I _still_ know the difference between right and wrong. And all this, this 'quest for power' that you are so obsessed with, is definitely high up on the wrong scale! A 10/10, in my opinion!" He took one step forward, making sure to slam it hard onto the ground to indicate that he was being serious to the walking 'scrap heap' as he calls him, "So unless ya want me to go and tell Logan what you've been up to, I suggest ya-"

He was interrupted as he heard David laughing again, this time though it was more deranged and twisted than it was before, "Go ahead! Run along to our 'fearless leader' and tell him! It just proves that you are incapable of handling this on your own!" He looked back and laughed even harder as he saw the 'threatening' glare that Brady was trying to give him. He still hadn't figured it out that it had no effect on him since he was practically all machine. "And besides, by the time you go and tell Logan what I'm up to, I would have already gathered enough samples to begin my research. Once I learn how to harness that power, even Logan will have to bow befor-"

A Dratini poked its head out of the bush, letting out a cry as it did. It startled David enough for him to let go of the device he had in his hand and drop it to the ground. It snapped in half as components flew out, the screen become nothing but static before it blacked out.

The forest remained silent as both human and cyborg looked at what was left of the scanner. Then, in a flash, David's right arm was entirely incased in ice and he pointed it at the Dragon Pokémon. A look of fury was in his eyes as he shouted out, "FILTHY BEAST!"

Brady saw this and leapt into action. He bolted straight to David and tackled him. He regretted making that choice mentally as it caused his entire body to ache in pain, but it did the job as David lost his aim and shot the tree above the Pokémon. The Dratini sensed the cold as soon as it was released and fled, going deeper into the forest.

The robot saw the Pokémon go and cast his frustration upon the downed human, "You idiot! I had the wretched creature in my sights! I ought to kill you for-"

"Go ahead."

David immediately stopped talking as he watched Brady get back up on his feet, an unusual grin on his face. He stayed quiet as he allowed Brady to explain, "Ya tried to do it earlier? What's stopping ya now? Go ahead and kill me. It's what ya want, isn't it?" He taunted before he tapped the side of his head with his finger, "Oh that's right, ya can't. Because ya still need Logan's trust." He walked forward until he was about a few feet's distance away from the titan, his smirk never leaving. "Face it, David. No matter what, ya can't kill me without ruling yourself out as a suspect. Electricity and ice powers? Where would you find a Pokémon that can use either of those in a forest? Last I checked, they lived in a glacier and an electric plant, not a forest."

"There are wild Pikachus that inhabit the Viridian Forest." David countered, feeling slightly threatened by where Brady was going with this conversation.

"Ya gonna need a _lot_ of Pikachus to generate the amount of electricity _you_ can dish out." He stated before continuing, "Energy blades? You and Alpha are the only people who use them, and he's at the Indigo Plateau right now. Bare hands? You and Logan are the only two people I know who can rip people apart, and ya tend to leave a _cleaner_ mess than him."

"Face it, Metal Head. Whatever ya do to me, the others will quickly pin it on ya." He chuckled a bit, "Ya know, for someone who has Einstein's IQ, you're way too predictable."

"GRRRAAAAHHHH!" David shot his head forward until it was a nose distance away from his and glared. No matter what, Brady had gotten him in a standstill. Him? The dumbest and laziest human he had ever encountered, had bested him! To David, this was an absolute outrage. How could he have let himself be beaten by someone like Brady? The chances of it ever happening were astronomical!

His anger drowned down as he scoffed at the human, who had remained still even when David advanced on him, "This is not over." He warned before he turned and began making his way back to Pallet Town. He took a few steps before he stopped.

Before Brady could respond, the robot turned and shot an arc of electricity at the tree, igniting the trunk in fire. He reacted and released a gust of wind that blew away the fire, leaving a charred scar on the tree's surface. He glared at David before seeing him move again.

"If I cannot possess that power… then nobody will."

The robot eventually kept moving until he was now out of sight, leaving Brady alone to recollect on what happened. He touched the tree's scar with his hand, the heat still flowing from it even after the fires were extinguished. _What's his problem?_ He thought to himself before he decided to head back to town as well. He had a lot of explaining to do when the others get back.

* * *

><p>Brady spotted Amanda in the middle of a discussion with Blue as he made it to Pallet Town. What was it that they were talking about? Ever since they came here, all Amanda ever did was talk to the older trainer like there was no tomorrow. Was it about clothes? He couldn't be sure, and he sure as hell didn't want to find out. Right now, he wanted to rest. He was right when he thought he would regret tackling David. His whole body felt like he got run over by a rhino.<p>

A deranged, psychotic, power hungry rhino, to be exact.

A whirling sound came from behind before something hard smacked him on the back of the head. He toppled over and fell face first on the grass, groaning. He heard small footsteps coming closer to him and looked up to see Leira standing over him, an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry, Uncle Brady." She said as she tried to help him up, which proved to be harder than it looked for her. "I was helping Cuby practice with his Bonemerang, a-and I didn't see you coming. I'm really sorry."

He looked at her with the same glare that he still had after confronting David, but it soon vanished the moment he saw her. No matter what, Leria was just impossible to be mad at. Such was the innocence of childhood. Oh, how he missed being a child sometimes. He could get away with almost everything.

He decided to spare Leira the trouble and climbed back up on his feet, then proceeded to ruffle the girl's hair before speaking, "S'alright. Just make sure ya warn me next time, alright?"

She giggled happily, "Okay, Uncle!"

"And stop calling me Uncle, will ya? I'm not that old." He teased her before he began making his way to their makeshift home.

Granted, it wasn't like the other houses, it was more like a giant tent that looked even bigger from the inside. There were multiple bunk beds for them to sleep in as well as a couple recharge stations for Alpha and David to use, along with a few spares should the others cease operation. Alpha, however, decided to place his recharge station inside of Oak's Lab since it generated enough power for him to maintain the system, that left the tent all to them.

He had only reached the tent's entrance before he looked over at Blue. He took an observant look at her beautiful form before his wild grin was on his face again. He had been rejected before by her, and was rudely interrupted by Saria, but since neither she nor Logan were around, now was the time to get his act going. He straightened out his shirt and quickly dusted off all the grass and dirt off of him before he licked his hand and combed it over his hair. Feeling a little more 'pampered' _(A/N: I use the term pampered _very_ loosely.)_, he walked over to the female trainer and leaned against the side of the building that she and Amanda were close to.

"Hell-o, sexy thing~!" He said as he grinned at Blue. Both girls stopped talking and looked over at him, the psychic with a look that said 'Oh here he goes again', the trainer saying 'Not again' look.

Amanda crossed her arms and glared at him, "If you're trying to hit on me again, Brady, I swear to God I will throw you to the other side of the-"

"I wasn't referring to you, _doll_." He stated, earning him a furious look from Amanda. He knew the name irked her to death, so it was so much fun seeing her react to it. "I was referring to the foxy lady right here."

"'Foxy?'" Blue questioned.

"Of course. After all, you and I share a lot in common. We both have _dashing_ good looks, creative in battle, and are very, _very_ persuasive."

Blue sighed before looking at him, "If you want me to do a repeat like I did back at Celadon, I will do so in less than a heartbeat."

"Aw, c'mon baby. All I'm asking is one night out for dinner, you can choose whatever place you want to go eat, and I'll pay for it. Simple, quick, and straight to the point."

"Except for one thing," Amanda butted in as she stepped in, "She has already made plans with _Green_ when he gets back, and I don't think Logan would appreciate you doing this. Again."

He laughed as loud as he could before replying, "He and Miss Nags A Lot are both at the Indigo Plateau! What do you expect him to do? Grab me and swing me around like a ragdoll?"

No sooner had he said those words did he hear a hissing sound coming from the side. He looked over and was too slow to retaliate as two tendrils snared around his head and slammed him against the wall before retracting him away.

Identifying the tendrils easily, Amanda smiled, "Yes. Yes he would."

Brady felt his body thrown around as the tendrils swerved and coiled, making him feel like he was in a carnival ride. They slammed him down to the ground several times before they rose high up in the air and threw him straight down. He landed with a thud, and before he could even figure out what happened, something heavy landed on his back, pinning him to position. Frantically, he looked up and saw Logan, who was currently sitting him on top of his spine as if he was some sort of bench, his right wrist retracting back the tendrils he used to attack.

"How the fuck did you do that?!" He shouted as he tried to break free. But it was no use. Even with all the time he spent playing football and wrestling, there was no way he could match Logan's titan-like strength. He looked up and saw Saria looking down at him with both her hands on her hips, wearing Logan's tendril scarf around her neck, as Red and Yellow followed close behind her.

A sheepish smile was on his face before he heard Saria's questioning tone in his ears, "Miss Nags A Lot, hmm?"

"Aha… ahaha… ahhhh…" He quietly laughed before her neutral glare finally broke him down, "To be honest, ya kind of are."

"I see." The Vanguard girl looked up at Logan and nodded her head. "Proceed."

"Proceed? Proceed with wh-AAAAAAAT?!" He felt himself being lifted up in the air before something slammed against his spine. A surge of pain flew out across his nervous system as both his hands reached back and clutched onto the spot where he got hit, rolling along the ground as he did. "AAARRRGH! ME SPINE!"

A cough brought him out of his senses as he looked at Yellow. She was clutching onto Red with her hat tilted to the side of her head, her eyes looking a little tired. She had his vest around her, and her legs looked as though they could barely sustain her. Another cough drew out of her, this one slightly more violent than the last. Forgetting that he was ever in pain, he climbed back up and pointed at her, "Yo, what's wrong with forest girl?"

Saria took a quick glance at her friend and shrugged, "I do not know. She was perfectly well earlier. Then something happened and she began to feel this way. She was also developing some sort of fever."

"She mentioned something about the forest." Red added as he held Yellow close to him, "She said that something happened and one of the trees began to call out to her, screaming out in pain, like it was on fire."

Brady's eyes went wide upon hearing this, "Fire?" He cupped his hand to his chin and mumbled to himself, "Oh that must have been from…"

He soon realized that everyone was eyeing him suspiciously as soon as he said that, causing him to panic, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on! It's not what you think! I was merely-"

Saria leaned forward until she was standing right in front of him and glared at him. If looks could kill, he would probably be six feet under right now. "Is there something you are hiding from us, Brady Smith?"

He looked at the tendrils and noticed how they began to hiss angrily at him, as well as Logan releasing a wrist blade from his right hand. He backed up and held up his hands, shouting at the both of them, "Hey, crazy lady! Don't pin this all on me! Pin it on David! He's the one who did it! Not me!"

"David? What could he possibly want with-"

"I asked him the same thing! But apparently, it wasn't the trees he was interested in! It's the stuff inside of them he's after!"

Yellow looked at him in shock, but it was Saria who asked, "What do you mean 'inside the trees'?"

Finally able to calm down, he explained, "Look, I don't know what it is myself, but apparently it's like… some sort of energy stuff that certain people have; like Yellow here." He saw her looking back at the mentioned trainer before adding, "I don't know why it's so special, but David seems interested in it. He thinks that if he can harness the stuff, he can become much more powerful than Logan, and lead us to taking back our world from the Endless."

"Krosias." She swore. She looked at him questioningly, as if she didn't want to believe him, "Are you sure this is what you saw?"

"I was just taking a morning jog around the region, and you're questioning _me_?! I'm the one who had to tackle him after he tried to flash-freeze some Pokémon!" He shouted.

"WHAT?!"

All eyes were on Yellow as she let go of Red and grabbed Brady's shirt, bringing him down so she could stare at him face to face. "He tried to hurt a Pokémon?!"

Brady pushed down on the girl's arms gently, suddenly surprised by her abnormal strength. "More like kill the damn thing. It jumped out of the bushes and made him drop the device that he was using to scan the tree for any energy deposits. I never had seen anything like it, though. It looked like a blue snake with fins on its head."

"That's a Dratini!" Red exclaimed. "Where did it go?"

"Deeper into the forest, I think." Brady replied as he reached the back of his head, "I think it wasn't a big fan of the cold, so as soon as David misfired and hit the tree on top of it, it ran off. Then all of a sudden he's at my face saying that I was a complete incompetent fool and stuff, left, then turned right back around and blasted the tree he was studying with his electricity!"

Saria nodded her head at this. It was starting to make sense now. "That would explain why Yellow said something about the tree being on fire. The fire was caused by David."

She felt the tendrils growling slightly and pointing at the direction David was most likely at. At the same time, Logan, who was still in his Soul Form, began to crack his knuckles. She knew what this meant and facepalmed, "Oh no. Not again." She followed after him, but not before stopping right beside Brady. The two stared at each other as silence began to settle in. He wasn't sure what was going on, but the look on her face told him that he might have done something he shouldn't have.

Then, all of a sudden, Saria pulled out her weapon and slammed the pole right on top of his head. A loud clang could be heard throughout the town, followed by Brady's scream.

"OOWW!" He clasped both hands on top of his head and angrily glared at her. "The fuck was that for?! I didn't call you Miss Nags A Lot this time!"

She twirled the weapon in her hand and hefted it over her shoulder, her glare never leaving her face. "You do not believe that I have not noticed you looking at my rear side every time my back is turned?"

His face paled in embarrassment. "Oh… You… noticed that, huh?"

Her 'eyebrow' arched in response, "I am a Vanguard, remember? I can see things humans normally cannot."

"Right."

She twirled the weapon again and hit him in the head for the second time, this time with enough force to bring him straight down to the ground. He groaned in pain as Saria smirked a little bit and walked away. She looked back once and spoke out to him, "It would be best if you take the rest of the day off, Brady Smith. You have not exactly had the greatest of all days today."

He groaned again, this time more agitatedly. She couldn't help but laugh at his expense and proceeded after Logan, hoping to stop another conflict from happening, leaving both trainers by themselves.

Both of them had their jaws wide open, surprised to see what Saria did. They thought of her as the nicer and more collective one compared to Logan. They never expected her to have a vengeful side, even if it was about something harmless. They shrugged it off and decided that it would probably be best if they too took a little rest. The day was still young, and there was a lot of things to be done.

* * *

><p><em>Blue's House, 9:18 PM, Normal POV…<em>

Yellow lazily walked over to the guest bed and collapsed on top of it. She had never felt so tired in her life. Granted, she was in an even worse condition the time when she used up all her energy when Entity One and Two were still around and they turned into statues, but this was the first time that she felt it immediately after, not a few months later.

So many things had happened today that it was difficult for her to keep track of what went on. Logan had gone to see David about what he did while still in that ninja form of his and basically brought out protocol, saying (With his eyes apparently) if David did that one more time he would be kicked off the team. From what he told them before upon meeting him, she pictured the two being best friends, not slowly degrading into bitter enemies. What could have possibly happened to them that caused all of this?

The afternoon soon came along and two things happened. The first thing was that Green, Professor Oak and Alpha had returned from their meeting. As soon as she saw him arriving, Blue had told them that they would be out for a while and the two left, most likely going on one of her pre-planned 'dates' that she had in store for Green. She honestly felt sorry for him to have to put up with Blue on a daily basis. While that happened, Alpha scanned her, Red and the two Vanguards for any ailments. While she and Red were perfectly healthy (Even her brainwaves had started to return to normal), Saria had apparently caught something as a result of being inside of Legion, leading her to go inside one of the medical pods to help with her recovery.

The second thing that happened was what kept repeating in her head, overwriting everything else that occurred throughout the day. She and Red were training Leira with her Cuby and seeing her progress when Red had said something to her. While they watched Leira telling her Scruffy to dodge Cuby's Bonemerang, he had said to her;

_'You know, Yellow. With all the times we've been hanging out lately, I'm starting to feel as though we're on a date. If that's the case, then I can't wait to see what tomorrow would be like, as long as I get to spend it with you.'_

She rolled over to her back and brought a pillow closer to her small body. She wasn't sure if he was joking like he always is or if it was a full blown confession, but whatever it was it caused her to blush like crazy. She buried her face in the pillow before rolling over to the side, eyeing the clock. 9:15 PM. She really needed to get some shut eye soon.

Other things had happened, none of them worth mentioning besides Brennan, Brady and Amanda leaving Pallet Town to go deal with some Endless that were spotted in Routes 6, 10 and 17. Amanda had actually proven to her and the other trainers that she was downright scary in combat, when she was the first to come back to town. Apparently, she was facing off against a pack of Brutes and Alpha Grims while the others were fighting Grims, Prowlers and Lickers. Yellow didn't know what an Alpha Grim was, but after seeing a bunch of normal Grims within the past few days, she had a good guess as to what they looked like.

She sat upright on her bed and looked around the room, her eyes now wide open. It was _too_ quiet, and not because there was nothing happening at the moment. It was quiet because it's been almost a whole day since she had that nightmare and saw that _thing_, and she had a horrible feeling that she was about to meet it soon. She climbed out of her bed and walked over to the closet on the left side of the room, opened it, and pulled out a baseball bat. She then ran back to the bed and threw the covers over her head, holding both the pillow and bat closer to her. If it did show up again, she would at least have something to defend herself. Using her Pokémon inside of a building would only cause the house to fall on top of her, and most likely kill her, Blue and their Pokémon in the process.

She felt sleep wash over her body again, and slowly but surely accepted it. Her mind drifted off to the events that happened in the day, the stuff that Red had said, and her paranoia of encountering that hideous monster again. Sometimes she wished she lived a normal life and not this one. Things were happening so fast she was afraid that she might end up lost in the storm that was her life.

_Too tired__…__ to worry about that now__…_ Her mind lazily said as she yawned out loud. She would worry about those things tomorrow, when the day would be young again.

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><p><strong>(AN: Remember when I said to Yellow fans who are reading this that you guys would hate me for putting Yellow in that horrible predicament with the giant disembodied head back on Chapter 11? You're not going to like what I'm about to put Yellow through in the next chapter. And, without spoiling anything, if you guys envisioned yourself in your place, you would have nightmares for days on end. So look forward to it! :D)**


	16. Horrors of the Mind

**(A/N: Like last time, this part of the story is of a higher rating than T, due to blood and some frightening scenes. You have been warned.)**

**Themes used in this Chapter:**

**- Synthetic Design (Slowed Remix): _/watch?v=2cX4iWfFJk0_**

**- Nightmare House 2 - Evac: _/watch?v=b0yVTd-fyqk_**

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 15: Horrors of the Mind<span>**

_Yellow's Mind, Normal POV_

Yellow's eyes flew wide open as she 'awoke' and carefully observed her surroundings. Like last time, all she saw was an endless expanse of darkness around her. Only this time she was wearing her orange pyjamas and not her regular clothes, and she was now standing on something – something wet. She looked down and saw that her feet were partially submerged in water. But there was something strange about it, almost as though it was tainted. Was the darkness somehow responsible for this? Was it the reason why this placed felt so… lonely?

_Every time I pray to myself that I never want to come back here, I always do. Why? Why is it that I always find myself here? _She thought out loud.

A red glow appeared from overhead, illuminating her and the black water. She looked up and felt her mouth dropping slightly as she looked upon the red-coloured moon hanging up in the sky.

_The moon? It wasn't here before. Why is it all red and–_

Something snatched her attention and forced her out of her train of thought. She didn't know what it was, but it looked as though there was something trailing along the moon's surface. She squinted her eyes a little bit, as it was already hard enough for her to see the moon. Sure enough, something moved along its surface like a snake. It was a slightly darker shade of red than the moon, but the way it looked and moved, she swore that it was…

"Blood…" She gasped before bringing a hand up to her mouth, shock written all over her face.

There was no doubt about it. There was blood all over the once beautiful moon, now a corrupted version of its former self. The grim realization put a thought in her head, and it made her cringe. She wrapped her arms around her body and looked around, almost frantically.

_I need to get out of here!_

She felt something hard and cold underneath her feet now and looked down again. A patch of concrete was there now instead of water, and looked like it was slowly moving away from her. The hardened rock then expanded in front of her, creating a pathway that led even deeper into the darkness. Yellow had a nagging feeling that this might be a trap and didn't want to go, but seeing as it was the only visible thing other than the moon in this horrible place, she followed.

_It's not like I have anywhere else to go. _She sighed as her legs guided her along the stone path, taking quick but cautious steps each time.

* * *

><p>Time had passed since she had made the decision to follow the path. How much time had passed at this point? A few minutes? Hours? Days? It felt as though time moved at a much different scale than out in the real world. It felt like it went on forever, leading her deeper and deeper into the abyss. And this place; no matter how hard she tried to push the thought away, she couldn't shake the feeling that this place felt so… alien to her. Even the concrete beneath her feet felt alien. She should have been feeling pain from the millions of microscopic pebbles that dotted its surface since she didn't wear anything underneath her feet, but it felt like she was walking across sand.<p>

She eventually grew tired and was about to turn back before something caught her eye. She couldn't tell what it was through the fog that suddenly rolled up, but from the outlines she spotted, it looked like some kind of structure. Relieved to finally see something other than rocks and a moon in this wretched place, she broke off in a run and headed straight for it. More of the structure came into view, revealing it to be a lot bigger than she thought. By now, with a quarter of a mile left to go, she could finally see what the structure looked like, and she had to crane her neck to look up at the towers it had.

* * *

><p><em>Recommended Theme: Synthetic Design 2 (Slowed Remix; watch?v=2cX4iWfFJk0)_

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><p>The structure turned out to be a cathedral of Gothic architecture with large glass panes decorating the sides of the building. A stone stair case led to a pair of wooden doors that were large enough for an Onix to fit through. The archaic towers pierced the black sky, obstructing the red moon behind their intimidating appearance. A faded gold coloured bell hung on the central tower, its stillness as quiet as the environment around it. The cathedral, with is architecture, the eerie fog around it, and the glow from the bloodied moon, made it look even more creepy to Yellow than anything else she had ever seen.<p>

She took a long deep breath before she felt her legs moving again. She approached the set of doors and pushed against the handle. It didn't budge. She grabbed the handle with both her hands this time and pushed with all her might, practically slamming herself against the door. The door budged slightly and slowly began to open, revealing the interior of the cathedral to her.

Row upon rows of benches were placed on both sides, facing the podium that stood on the opposite side. Balconies connecting to the upper floor were seen high up on the walls, overlooking the mass down below. Stone statues of a middle-aged man adorned in robes stood tall around the podium, one with his hands clamped together in a prayer, the other two with their hands held out to their sides. A wooden cross stood right beside the podium, and a large book was placed on top of it. A red carpet stretched from where she was straight to the podium, its soft texture very furbished from what her eyes could tell.

The Viridian Girl slowly stepped inside, her eyes observing the interior with a sense of awe and uneasiness. Her bare feet walked along the carpet's surface, stifling a giggle from her lips as she felt the soft texture tickled the soles of her feet. She had only taken a few steps in before something slammed behind her. She jumped in shock and looked back to see that the door had closed in on her. She didn't need to run up to them to know that they were shut tight.

She gulped, mentally scolding herself for coming here, and continued moving. Her hands began to fidget and instinctively reached down to call out Chuchu, only to remember that none of her Pokémon were with her at the moment. There was something shiny up ahead in front of the podium, buried within a mountain of flowers. She moved closer to it, her curious mind overriding all other decisions. She identified many of them as roses and lilies, some of them so old that they have lost their colour over the years, some of them freshly picked out of a garden. There were even some that she had never seen before, such as the blue flowers with the yellow trim on the edge of their petals and yellow dots on the centre, and the lone white roses amidst the bouquet of red ones.

She approached the hidden object, carefully pushing the flowers aside. She saw that the shiny object turned out to be glass. She cautiously peered inside, even though she had a vague idea what it could possibly be. Her eyes widen as her hunch proved to be correct.

A girl of younger age than her lied within the glass chamber, surrounded by a set of cushions. Her peach coloured skin was covered by a beautiful black dress and black dress shoes, and within her hands she held a rose. Her jet-black hair was braided into a long ponytail and rested alongside her body. Around her neck was a silver necklace, with a symbol that was all too familiar to Yellow.

She peered closer at the necklace and realized why. Not only did the necklace bore the symbol of the Vanguards, but it was the same necklace that Logan wore.

Questions rained down on Yellow as she continued to look at the young girl. Who is she? How did she die? Where did she get that necklace? Was she somehow linked to Logan? All these questions and still she had no answers for any of them.

Her ears picked up movement coming from the side, forcing to look over to her left. Even with the glow of the moon phasing through the glass panes, it was still too dark for anybody to see. But since she had lived in the Viridian Forest for a majority of her life, her eyes had adjusted to seeing in the dark. She scanned the cathedral for whatever moved, beads of sweat slowly going down on her forehead. She saw a shape moving behind one of the far benches on the left hand side before it vanished even deeper into the darkness. She heard something again and looked the opposite way to see a shadow zipping across one of the mosaic windows, too fast for her eyes to tell what it was. The cathedral grew quiet once more as she felt her fear clawing at her heart. She frantically looked around, trying to see where the shadow had gone.

Between the empty benches, mosaic windows and painted ceiling, it never occurred to her to look behind her at that moment to notice the ghostly pair of white eyes looking at her.

She soon saw the cathedral beginning to light up and saw her shadow looming across the red carpet, her breath hitching in response. Her hands clasped onto one another and began to fidget nervously, her fear overriding every bit of logic and sense in her mind. She had no control over her own body as she quickly turned around to face the podium…

…and her eyes widen in surprise when she saw the small white ball gently floating before her.

The orb was quite strange to her. It was nothing more than a ball of white light surrounded by a wispy aura. It glowed brighter one moment before it died down the next, almost like a star. It hovered over the wooden structure, staying there as if it had been there the whole time.

Yellow was quite fascinated by the light. She had never seen anything like it before. It looked so cute and mystifying at the same time. She slowly reached out for it, wanting to feel the wispy essence in-between her fingers…

The light immediately responded and shirked away from her hand, surprising Yellow completely. She never expected it to move. And what happened next surprised her even more.

It began to speak.

_ No… The cold, the cold… It's too cold… Warmth… Need to be somewhere warm, warm… Need to be away from the cold…_

Yellow looked at the light again, feeling a hint of concern. While it was nice to find someone, or something in this case, that could talk, the way it spoke sounded so young and innocent. Why was it in a place like this, all alone?

She walked up to it, being mindful to keep a reasonable distance away so it won't shy away, and spoke softly to it, "Ex-Excuse me? Who… Who are you?"

The light 'turned' around to look at her and spoke, _Who… am I? Do not know, know, know… Forgotten long ago… Always have been here, here… in this place, place, place… _The light did a double take on her, noticing her form, and spoke again,_ You do not belong here… Outside, outside… The realm of reality… Why have you come here, here… Inside His mind, mind…_

The question confused The Healer, "Inside his mi-? What are you talking about? Whose mind is this?"

_ You… do not know? She does not know, does not know… Know him you do, you do… Heart filled with sorrow and grief, grief… Slowly eating him from the inside, from the inside… Know him very well… Saved his life before… Water, water… Saved him from water… Saviour…_

"Saved him from water?" She repeated that sentence before she looked back at the events that happened in the past couple of days. Out of all of them, the only time that she recalled saving someone's life from any kind of water was three days ago, when she first met-

Her eyes widen again as she looked at the light, almost shouting out her answer, "Wait…Are you saying that I'm inside _Logan's_ mind, not mine?!"

The light gave her the closest thing to a nod.

Yellow raised a hand up to her hair and began to brush it along her fingers. There was no way that this was happening. There was just no way! How did she even come here in the first place? There was nothing that happened to her that could have possibly trig-

The events of Celadon City played in her mind again, referring to the time she saw the symbol on Logan's back and that monster for the first time. She pushed back her hair with both her hands on her head. _So that explains the how. Question is; why am _I _here?_

The question left her mind as soon as she looked back at the younger girl's still body. She placed her hand against the glass, noticing how cold it was, and began to feel something in the pit of her stomach. She didn't know why, but her gut kept telling her that she might have seen this girl from somewhere. It grew and grew until she could literally feel it up in her throat.

"Who is she?" she finally asked the light.

The light glided over to the coffin, casting a faint glow that illuminated Yellow's face. _Someone from the past, the past… Someone very important… _It said, _Cared for us… Looked out for us… Loved us, loved us… A mother to us… Taught us everything, everything… About life, life… About friends, friends… Gave up everything for us… Sacrificed her life… for us…_

Yellow became confused by the small creature's words, and did little to hide the worry in her voice. "What do you mean?"

_The plaque, the plaque… Look at the side… and you will see, see…_

She did just that and let her eyes wander over to the plaque that was on the side of the coffin. She carefully scanned the writing, noting that there were some things that were scratched out like her name and a few of the messages underneath, but there were still some that she could easily make out;

_"A loving sister. An amazing friend. A caring mother."_

_Sister… and mother._ Yellow thought hard on those two words as her eyes wandered back to the girl. She took a closer look at her face to identify any facial structures that were unique to her before she finally noticed the photo.

She was positive that it wasn't there last time, but right where a rose was supposed to be was instead a framed photo held in her hands. And to add more to her surprise, the photo was exactly the same as the one Logan had showed her. She saw the girl in the photo sitting behind the younger Vanguard boy with her hands on her shoulders, casting a sincere smile to the person behind the camera. At first she didn't see any resemblance between them, other than the fact that her emerald eyes seemed to glow just as bright as his.

Her eyes went wide once again. _Glow! Just like Logan's! _It was all starting to make sense! The eyes, the photo, her being in Logan's mind, the girl before her, the necklace; she was beginning to understand all of it!

The thought, however, was enough to make her heart plummet down to the pit of her stomach. "Arceus…" She looked at the light, seeing that it was now casting an even fainter glow than before. "This is her, isn't it? This is–"

_HHHYYYYAAAAARRRRRGH!_

The scream pierced any further attempts for the conversation as Yellow brought both hands up to her ears to muffle out the sound. Cracks began to appear on the mosaic windows, followed up by something banging heavily against the giant cathedral doors. She could feel her fear growing as she tried to look for a way out.

The light quickly glided over to a set of normal sized doors that were on the left side and motioned for her to follow. _They're coming, they're coming… This way… Hurry… Before they arrive, arrive…_

The Viridian Girl opened the doors and looked inside to see a narrow pathway that led into a mist of darkness. She shook her head and stayed where she was. "No. No, no, no I am not going in there!"

_You must, you must… If you don't… Then _He_ will find you, find you…_ The light argued back.

Before she could say anything, Yellow was hit by an invisible force and went inside. She looked back and saw the light closing the doors behind her and heard something click on the other end. She pulled on the handles and knew that it was locked. She slammed her hands against the door, calling out to the light. "What are you doing?! Let me out!" She looked through the tiny space between the doors to see it floating there.

_No… You need to go, go… You need to survive…_ The light urged her as it began to float away,_ If _He_ finds you, then you'll never escape, escape… Go… Run and live… We will stay and give you time, time…_

"You can't stay out there! You'll be killed!"

The light looked at her once more, giving her a faint smile, despite it lacking a mouth and Yellow being unable to see it, _If it means to finally be with Sister, then we, we… will accept it, accept it…_

The windows exploded and several silhouettes stormed through. Yellow looked to where the closest silhouette was and gasped in horror.

The silhouette turned out to be a human with half of its body rotting and wearing nothing but tattered clothing. Its hand ended with five, razor sharp talons stained with blood. Its feet were bare, but were also stained with blood, and its body bore many scars. The worst was its face. The vast assortment of shark-like teeth in its red maw, the skeletal face, the gouged out eye sockets that poured out blood. She had to try her best to not throw up as its head began to flail around like a pinball, spraying bits of blood everywhere.

More of the nightmarish creatures came into view and began making their way over to the light that now hovered above the podium, some teleporting with each step, some twisting and turning. Yellow looked up and saw the creatures punching through the walls and the roof before crawling along the walls like humanoid spiders. More banging could be heard on the front doors, and already it was beginning to show signs of damage.

One of the creatures that were closest to the podium released a horrific scream before it sped towards the light with inhuman speed. It came about a foot distance away before the wisp shot a blast of energy at the creature. It slammed against the creature and sent it flying towards the benches, smashing into several of them. It was already clear that the creature was killed. In response, all of the creatures roared out and charged.

The light began to intensify before it unleashed a shockwave, knocking away all of the creatures and any objects away. The petals from the mass of flowers tore through the stems and flew around to all directions of the cathedral, creating a storm of raining petals. Some of the creatures shook away the pain and charged again, only to be shot down by more energy blasts.

The front doors finally gave way and a massive horde of creatures poured in, all moving in different directions like a swarm of bugs. The ones on the ground saw the light and charged all at once, each one hungry for murder. The light, on the other hand, decided to do the same thing and flew towards them. Yellow watched as the light dived into the centre of the horde and was completely engulfed in a sea of black, engulfing every bit of it.

Moments later after the light vanished, a roar cried out over the chorus of distorted screams. Light seeped through the cracks of the mass of bodies before a powerful blast of energy occurred. All of the creatures flew off, slamming into everything in their path. When the devastation was over, all that remained from the epicentre of the blast was a human with charcoal skin and eyes that gleamed like infernos. Yellow had no idea who or what it was, but the way it looked, the way its eyes glowed, there was only one person that fit the description, and even then it surprised her.

"Lo… Logan?" She whispered to herself.

The shadowy figure, now identified as Logan, roared out at the creatures and leaped up in the air before slamming a fist down on them. As soon as he landed the attack, he stretched his fingers out on his other hand and slashed more of the creatures, severing them into pieces in one swift motion. He then did the same thing with his other hand and sliced the ones behind him before swinging his right foot in a full 360 spin kick. More creatures came in as Logan finished off the last one that was close to him. He saw the oncoming group and hopped up to the roof, beginning to bombard them with numerous Dark Blasts from his mouth. He hopped again from his position and lunged at another one with both claws outstretched, effectively plunging them both through the fiends chest. He lifted the dying monstrosity over his head and separated his hands, splitting his victim in half in response.

Yellow watched the brutal carnage continue as more and more creatures came and met the same fate as their previous companions, either torn to shreds by Logan or blasted by dark energy. The petals that had flown off from the flowers followed the shadow creature wherever he went, making his movements look graceful through the bloody destruction.

Just as he tore the head from one of the creatures and slammed another with a nasty axe kick, a wicked laughter began to fill the building, followed by an all too familiar static sound that Yellow could recognized anywhere.

Loud footsteps drew closer and closer as voices soon echoed in the Healer's ears. A clawed hand grabbed onto the door and threw it open, revealing the nightmarish version of Logan. His empty eyes leaked out crimson blood as his wicked smile carved the sides of his face. Just as he entered the cathedral, one of the nightmares flew to the wall next to him and slumped into a broken heap. He scoffed underneath his breath and looked at the enraged Logan without any emotion.

_-Pathetic.- _He silently said before he walked over to the ensuing battle, pulling out his crude weapon as well.

Now Yellow was watching with horror as the nightmarish creature that she had seen a few times before was slowly making his way over to Logan… and he had no idea that he was there! She wanted to warn him, but reminded herself that she needed to stay hidden. She felt so useless, and could only watch as the fiend was now upon her friend.

By the time Shadow Logan had realized what was behind him, it was too late. The fiend swung his chainsaw katana vertically and cut off Logan's right arm, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. The arm flew in the air and landed several feet away from them. But he wasn't done yet. He swung the weapon again, this time leaving a large gash across his chest before he used his other hand and grabbed him around the neck. He applied pressure on his iron grip, slowly strangling the shadow as it used its only arm to claw at the fiend.

_-Now, now. Is that any way to treat an old friend?-_ The creature said with a voice that sent chills running down Yellow's spine. He flicked his hand and threw the injured shadow towards the coffin, lying in a heap on the small set of stairs that led to the podium. He walked over to him, spun his blade several times before impaling the shadow on the back. Yellow covered her eyes to not see it, but from the sound that she heard, she definitely didn't want to know.

As the shadow tried to pull the blade out of him, the nightmare spoke, _-There we go. Now, why don't you sit tight while I go have a nice chat with your big sis.-_

Something gleamed in the shadows right eye as it growled at him, _Stay away from her, her… Nexus, Nexus…_

The name didn't leave Yellow's attention as she began to contemplate over it.. _Nexus… So that's what he's called._ She looked out through the crack again and saw the mention creature right on top of the coffin.

Nexus cracked his neck a few times and peered inside as one of his hands began to brandish his fiendish claws. _-You've eluded from me for far too long, girl. Now it's time for you to-_

He stopped in midsentence when he noticed that something wasn't right. Inside of the glass coffin, there was no sign of the girl anywhere. All that was there was a small piece of white paper written in neat writing that read out;

_Better luck next time~!_

Nexus roared out in rage upon seeing this and smashed the coffin with both fists clenched together. Shards of glass flew off in several different directions, some of them imbedding themselves into him and everything else they hit. One had even managed to get inside of his left eye, but with nothing there, all it hit was the inside of his skull. It didn't even affect him in the slightest. He glared at his minions as he pulled the glass shard out of his eye effortlessly with one hand, shouting at them as he moved through the squirming shadow. _-FIND HER! Find that bitch and bring me her head!-_ He grabbed his sword and finished the fake Logan off by cutting his torso clean off. He stomped his foot on his deceased body and continued, _-The longer she remains alive, the harder it will be for me to take complete control of this worthless being! Search everywhere if you have to, just find her and kill her before sh…-_

He stopped talking almost instantly and remained as still as a statue. The other creatures, loyal as they were, stayed silent and stared at him with hollow eyes, their heads twitching and tilting slightly.

Yellow pressed her hands against the doors frame ever so gently and looked at Nexus with scared eyes. Even though her gut told her to run, she needed to know what the thing was doing. If it was linked to Logan and that girl, then she would have to find out why this is happening and talk with Saria about it. She didn't think it would be right for her to talk to Logan about this, considering that this was inside of _his_ mind. She felt that he didn't trust her enough to tell her what was really bothering him, which she could understand his reasoning. Her sense of trust would have been the same if she had gone through this kind of horror on a daily basis.

She watched as Nexus slowly glanced around the cathedral, his eyeless sockets looking for something – something that shouldn't belong, perhaps. As soon as the grim thought hit her, his eyes were right upon her.

She felt her blood freezing inside of her veins and her face paling when his eyes, or lack of, looked directly at her. She brought a hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming, but she had a horrible feeling that it was already too late for that.

A chill ran down her spine when she heard Nexus speaking. _-Yellow… How nice of you to show up.-_ He said before laughing wickedly to himself. _-I was planning on doing another scare session with you, but as you can see… I had other plans.-_ He stomped the body underneath his foot to point this out to her.

She watched as he turned his back to her and made his way over to the cathedral doors. The endless expanse of darkness illuminated by the red glow of the moon was all that she could see through them. He stopped when he was outside and looked back at her. She could see more blood pouring out of his eyes before he waved a hand at the monsters all around them, telling them one simple command that made her heart drop.

"Kill her," was all he said before the twin goliath-sized doors closed behind him, leaving her inside with his minions.

At once, all of the nightmarish fiends slowly began to turn their heads towards her as she backed away from the doors. Their bodies began to shift and contort as their heads shook violently, a sickening sound echoing within her ears. Like Nexus, blood leaked out of their eyes as well as their mouths, staining the once beautiful marble floor. A faint, red light began to appear within their eyes, giving them a slightly more intimidating appearance. Some began to walk towards her, some twitching with every step, some teleporting a few feet every time she blinked.

She held her breath as one of them appeared right in front of the doors, starring at her as if it was starring into her soul. In her mind, she was screaming at herself to get away from the doors and run down the tunnels, but her body was frozen in fear, unable to respond.

* * *

><p><em>Recommended Theme: Nightmare House 2 – Evac (watch?v=b0yVTd-fyqk)_

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><p>Before she knew it, the creature roared out a terrifying yell and punched its arm through the frame, almost managing to claw her in the face with its talons. She felt her body regaining control and broke off in a run. She never dared to look back as she ran at breakneck speed, following the winding tunnel to wherever it led to. The monster pulled its arm out and peered through the newly made hole just in time to see Yellow's retreating form vanish in the darkness of the tunnel. Seeing its newfound prey, it roared at her and began to claw at the door.<p>

She kept running. It didn't matter where she was or where she was going, so long as it was away from those things. She could feel her heart pounding inside of her chest and her breathing heavy inside of her mouth. Her legs started to hurt from how much she ran, and her feet began to ache from the tiny pebbles that scraped them, but she couldn't stop. She knew that if she did, she would die. She needed to get out of here. She needed to wake up and return to the real world before those things get her.

The door began to gave way and, at once, the monsters poured down the tunnel like a tidal wave, some tumbling down and stepped on by others, the rest running or crawling along the walls and ceiling like the hungry pack that they were. Their combined screams of hunger echoed across the entire tunnel network, eventually catching up to Yellow.

She made the mistake of looking behind her and saw the wall of darkness suddenly lighting up with dozens of red, glowing eyes. She screamed and ran even faster, turning to the left pathway and quickly making a right, hoping that she would shake these things off of her. But it was futile. No matter what path she took, the creatures would systematically split up and try to corner her, but she would barely escape out of their reach by taking the pathways that weren't filled with them. Some had even made things more difficult by bursting their hands out of the ground to try and grab her or through the walls and take a chance to swipe at her.

As she ran down the tunnel she took, something started to happen, and it made her think that she might have gone insane:

The tunnel began to move.

Not just move, but wrapped around like a snake and shifted left and right, making creaking sounds each time it moved. She came upon a crossroad and decided to take the right path, only to see that that path went straight up. With no way to climb up, she quickly ran to the pathway opposite of the one she came from and was relieved to see that it was normal.

Well, it was, before it ended with a dropoff and another pathway appearing just ahead of her. She looked back and saw that the creatures were right behind her. She took a running start and jumped just as one of the creatures swiped at her and landed in the other tunnel with a thud. She shook away the pain and kept moving, not bothering to look back again and see the creatures either falling off or jumping across. She came upon another crossroad and saw that two of the other paths were going straight up or down, so she took the only one available. But as she followed it, she heard more and more voices calling out to her, followed by more screams. Except these screams didn't belong to the creatures, they were coming from all around her, and it got louder and louder the more she ran.

After a few minutes of running down the same tunnel had passed by, she found a small room through a door and locked it behind her. She searched around and saw a small hatch on the ground, big enough for her to fit through. There was a foul and decaying smell coming out of it, as well as a few traces of blood along the edges. She was about to deny the idea of going down there, but the sounds of the creatures drawing closer to her position changed her mind. She quickly ran over to the hatch and struggled to open the iron grate. After a few hard pulls, it finally came loose and she dropped down.

A winding slide awaited her as she felt the wind slapping against her face. There was a strange liquid that she felt against her back as she travelled deeper and deeper into the shaft, but she didn't want to know what it was. For what it was worth, it was probably drool or more of that black sludge from outside that she was sliding on. She screamed along the way, not being used to things like this even outside of her dreams.

The crazy ride soon ended and she fell on the ground with a splash. Her body ached in pain when she hit the concrete hiding underneath the water and tiredly got up to her feet. She looked down at the water and saw her reflection; messy, wet hair, dirt and blood on her slightly messed up pyjamas. What else could go wrong?

She looked down at her feet, seeing that the strange liquid was up to her ankles, meaning she would have cold feet by the time she got out of here. There was something strange about it though from the way it looked. She dipped her hand in it and pulled it out, peering at the water very carefully. With how little light there was in here, it was hard to tell what it was exactly in the dark, but from the horrible smell that lingered around her and the shiny red glow, it looked kind of like

_Wait… Don't tell me… that what I'm standing is…_ The grim thought made her cry out and flick her hand, trying to get it off of her. She looked down both ends of the long narrow tunnel, panic filling her mind. _I _really _need to get out of here! Now!_ She mentally screamed in her head.

Something scraped along the walls behind her, causing her to jump. It drew closer and closer before it was joined up by another one. Slow, heavy footsteps splashed against the blood filled tunnel, followed up by the sounds of breathing. Deep breathing. The kind of breathing that would fit some sort of demonic creature.

The owner of those footsteps came into her line of sight and caused her to gasp out in horror. It was big. Big enough to fill up the entire tunnel, with pitch black skin masking it completely in the darkness, save for the twin red eyes that flashed at her, knowing that she was there. Its body was heavily built, yet nimble, and its long arms possessed massively clawed hands drenched in blood. A long tail coiled along the ground behind it as it slammed down on the ground. Its head possessed no hair or facial structures save for the sunken nose and really long mouth filled with big, knife-like teeth. She couldn't see it very well, but it looked as though the thing had several spikes on its back, and a few extending out of its elbows. Its black tongue flicked outside of its red maw as it flexed its claws.

She didn't need a reminder on what to do as she already sprinted off the other way. The massive creature watched her for a few moments before it reared its head back and roared, loud enough to cause the blood around it to rise up from the ground. Its legs buckled down as it leaped several feet ahead, giving it a lot of momentum and speed in order to catch its prey.

Yellow could hear the thing right behind her, so she didn't have to worry about looking back. The problem is that the thing was more than likely faster than her, so there was a strong chance that it would catch up and kill her before she would even get a glimpse of an escape. Tears began to stream down her eyes as her legs grew more tired from all the running she did. Finally unable to handle it, she shouted at the top of her lungs, effectively hurting her throat at the same time.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" She cried out.

As if her prayers were answered, a light appeared up ahead, revealing another large set of doors, one open and one closed. She could barely contain her excitement as she began to pick up the pace. She took a quick glance to see how close the creature was…

…and had no time to react when she saw it raising its clawed hand.

It brought the hand down, cutting through the fabric of her top across her right arm and across her skin. The full blunt of the attack lifted her off her feet and sent her sailing through the open door. She rolled and bounced across the empty darkness a few times, tears running down her face at the agonizing pain. Her hand clamped down on the open wound to stop the blood flow before the roar of the creature reminded her that it was still coming.

Thinking quickly, she limped her way over to the door and, with what little strength remained in her small body, pushed as hard as she could against it. It budged slightly before it slowly began to close, the monster drawing nearer. With one more hard push, the door closed right on the creature's face, stunning it for a while. Yellow grabbed the long wooden beam that was nearby and placed it on the lock, sealing the door. More blood started to leak out of her wounds from lifting the heavy object before she covered it up with her hand again. Some of it still managed to seep in-between her fingers, but not a lot, to which she was okay with.

Loud banging brought her out of her thoughts and made her look back. Unlike the others, this one remained firmly in place and managed to withstand against the creature's attacks. She breathed out a long needed sigh of relief. That should buy her enough time to get the hell out of here.

She looked on ahead and saw the red moon, this time a lot bigger than it was before. In front of it was a tall structure, most likely a tower. Why it was here, she had no idea, but she could see white light coming from the very top of the structure.

A thought crossed her mind and caused her to smile. That must be it. That must be her way out of here. The question is how will she get there? The tower must be about half the size of Kanto away from her, and all that was there in that emptiness were gnarled crosses and whatever kind of horrors lie there.

Someone was standing just ahead of her, his back turned on her. She knew it was a guy based on the way he looked. He wore a lot of red clothing, and had what looked like a red hat on his head. She couldn't see his face, but she could recognize him no matter how far he was. Her happiness got rid of all her fear and worry as she made her way over to him, completely ignoring the pain in her arm and legs.

"Red! Red! Oh thank Arceus it's you!" She said excitedly as she stood just behind him, "What are you doing here? I thought- Never mind. Listen. We need to get out of here! There's someone, or something, in here and it's trying to kill me! I-I barely survived from it! I don't know how, but anywhere is better than here!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him gently, "C'mon, Red! I think that tower over there is our only way out! If we hurry, we can make it before those things get us!"

She noticed that something wasn't right. He didn't respond to her at any point while she was talking, especially when around her. He was never this quiet. She looked back at him and saw that his head was still lowered, as well as his hand feeling really cold against hers. She moved closer to him until they were an inch apart from one another and looked up at his face, her uninjured hand placed against his chest.

Her lips wavered for a moment before she spoke, her concern very evident from how quiet she was, "Red?"

The male trainer's other hand slowly lifted up as it rested on top of Yellow's shoulder. From the way he moved and felt on her, it was as though he was sick or something.

That was what she originally thought, before his hand grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up with abnormal strength.

She squirmed in his grip, both hands on his arm as she tried to wretch it off of her throat. But it was pointless. The harder she tried to break free, the more pressure he would seem to add. He was suffocating her. She looked at him with teary eyes and struggled to speak as her need for air grew with each passing second. "R…Red… Ack… Wh-Why… Hck… are you-"

It was by then when she saw Red's face that she knew that it wasn't him. The hollow eyes, the jagged mouth with the torn stitches, the blood splattered all over his face; this was far from the real Red. And to make it worse, '_He_' spoke to her.

_-Red is not here anymore, Yellow.-_ Nexus' voice rang out inside of her head like fingernails on a chalkboard. _-It's just you and me.-_ His insane laughter rang out again, filling the entire darkened realm with its wickedness.

She could see through blurry eyes that the doors have finally broken down and the large creature, followed by the horde of smaller, more human ones, poured out and ran towards them. They quickly surrounded their leader in a tight circle as they waited in anticipation for what he will do. She punched his arm again and again, but her body was already too weak from all the running, and all she managed to do was hurt herself even more.

Red/Nexus leaned his head forward and whispered to her as his other hand rubbed against her face almost lovingly. _-Don't worry, Yellow. I'll take good care you. Only I won't be as gentle as your friend.-_ His head twitched and pulsed before his mouth split into three mandibles and the rest of his head split apart, revealing a horrific, monstrous skull that was more demonic than human.

Yellow screamed out with what little oxygen remained inside of her lungs before she passed out. The last thing she saw before she did so was a bright light.

* * *

><p><em>Guest Bedroom, Blue's House, Normal POV<em>

Yellow screamed at the top of lungs again, this time much louder than last night. And once more, Chuchu jumped in shock from the scream and fell off the bed, her fur sticking up from her fright. Yellow looked around the darkness of the room and saw the furniture. She was back at Blue's house, still lying on the guest bed. She was hyperventilating and her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would explode. She may have said this numerous times before, but what she saw was perhaps one of the most terrifying experiences she had ever endured.

Something moved at the corner of her eye and she looked at the doorway. There was a figure standing there, almost creepy like, and there were a pair of faint lights coming out of where the figure's eyes were. A sudden flash of lightning appeared from outside, lighting up the room through the curtains…

…and gave her enough light to see that it was Nexus standing there, blood dripping from his claws.

She screamed even louder and grabbed the nearest pillow before throwing it at him. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

The pillow flew across the room, aiming directly at the nightmare's face as he continued to stare at her…

Footsteps ran down the hall before Blue came into view, her left hand gripping onto the doorframe as she looked at Yellow with worry. "Yellow! What's wro– OOF!" She wasn't able to finish as the pillow passed through Nexus' head and slammed against hers. She fell backwards, landing on the floor and wiping the spot where she got hit.

Yellow turned on the lamp and saw Nexus vanish as soon as the light appeared as well as Blue's fallen form. She gasped and climbed out of the bed, running over to her friend. "Blue! I'm so, so sorry! I-I didn't see you there!" She apologized again and again to her as she brought her up to a sitting position. "Oh, I'm so stupid! Why did I do that? I should have heard you coming before I threw that stupid pillow and–"

Blue moved one arm back to support herself and her other arm over her knee. She glanced at Yellow with a small smile, "It's okay, Yellow. I'm not hurt or anything." She paused for a moment as she rubbed her head again and added, "Good throw, though."

Yellow stopped her rambling and bowed her head, "I'm sorry, Blue. I didn't mean to. I…"

"Relax. Like I said, I'm fi-" She gasped out loud when her eyes looked down at her arm.

Yellow was confused. "What is it?"

She saw Blue pointing a finger at her arm, her face suddenly going pale, "Your… Your arm… It's…"

The Viridian Girl had no idea what she was talking about. She followed her friend's gaze and checked to see what it was that spooked her out so much.

Her face lost all colour at what she saw.

What was there was the same thing as she saw in her dream; the torn fabric, several scars across her arm, blood dripping from them and onto the ground. In her state of panic, she tried to remember how she got this before the memory of that giant monster slashing at her came into mind. She shook her head. No. No way did she have this from that nightmare. It wasn't even real; it was all just in her head!

She felt her neck aching and lifted a hand up to it. It hurt as soon as she touched it, realizing with a hint of dread that she might have been wrong. The memory of Red/Nexus choking her played in her mind before she heard Blue talking once more, finally getting over her shock.

"Arceus, what happened? Your arm is bleeding and–" She noticed the red mark on her friend's neck and tried to push back her worry, "Is that… Is that what I think it is?" She looked at Yellow and saw her eyes shaking, an obvious sign that she knew something and was afraid of telling her about it. It was now time for the gloves to come off as the tone in her voice grew more serious, "What happened?"

Yellow shook her head and stammered loudly, "N-N-Nothing! Nothing's wrong! I'm perfectly fine! See? All better!" She felt a headache coming and lifted a hand up to it, suddenly feeling very tired, "I… I just need… some rest."

Before Blue could say anything else, Yellow quickly got back up and closed the door behind her, leaving the older girl still sitting on the floor.

Blue could feel the motherly side of her screaming at her to see what was wrong with Yellow, but at the same time she didn't want to be seen as a hassle to her. So she decided to do the one thing that she always felt bad for doing, eavesdrop on Yellow. She placed her head against the door very quietly and heard her crying on the other side.

Inside the bedroom, Yellow slide down on the ground with her back against the door and buried her face in her hands. Her tears flowed through her fingers and across her cheeks as all the horrors and pain that she felt played through her head. Chuchu, becoming worried about her trainer, walked over to Yellow's side, letting out a worried cry to her.

She heard the Pikachu talking and spoke through choked sobs, "_(Crying)_… Chuchu… I don't know what to do… I don't know who to go to… I thought that… _(Crying)_… that everything was alright and there was nothing to worry about… but the past few days… _(Crying)_… Oh, Arceus… Why can't they stop? _(Crying)_… This is the second time that I had these kinds of nightmares… and yet it feels like I've had them much longer… and those monsters… How can anyone remain sane after seeing all of that?"

From her end, Blue could feel a tug on her heart as Yellow continued, "Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this kind of torment?! I don't even know what's happening! I can't tell if this is real, or if it's another one of Nexus' illusions."

The name caught Blue by surprise as she cupped one hand underneath her chin and pondered in thought. _Nexus… Never heard of him, but whatever he is, he'll pay for what he's done to Yellow._ She placed her head back on the door before her mind wandered off again. _If I'm not scary enough for that psycho, then maybe Red might have a better chance. Nobody cares more about Yellow than him, and he'd do anything to help her._

"…know how this all relates to Logan…"

_What?_ Blue thought out loud when she heard the Vanguard's name. This time her mind was on full alert as she listened to the rest of the conversation. "I can understand Nexus being related to Logan, cause it _is _him." She could hear the Pikachu on the other end making a noise, most likely wondering what she meant, as did Blue. She heard her explaining to the Pokémon, "I… I don't know how I know… I mean it looked like him and it had the same voice, but… it was like I _felt _that it was him."

"That girl, though…" She went on as her voice dropped to a whisper, "It couldn't be her. He told us that she was alive. Why would he lie to us? I… I don't know why, but it's like she's somehow the reason why he's feeling the way he is. All those monsters, all these nightmares and hallucinations… Nexus…" She pushed her hair back as her eyes began to turn red from all the crying she did. "I don't know what to do, Chuchu. I just… I just don't know."

That was enough for Blue to hear. She stood back up and began making her way downstairs to the front entrance. She took off her slippers and put on a pair of sneakers, as well as a light jacket to keep herself warm, and stepped outside. She made sure to do it quietly so Yellow wouldn't know what she was doing and made her way to the Professor's lab, breaking off to a run. If Logan was somehow responsible for Yellow's pain, then she would need answers from the one person who would know.

She found the door to the lab locked. No surprise. Professor Oak always locked his lab, since it housed so many Pokémon inside. She slipped out a pin from a hidden part of her sneaker and picked the lock. After a few seconds, she heard the click and opened the door. She put the pin back where it was and stepped inside, smiling along the way. "Sorry, Professor. But this is for a good cause."

She made her way over to where a recently added machine was placed. The machine was a recharging station for Alpha since he needed to periodically charge his energy so the emergency shutdown installed in his programming wouldn't kick in. Although he had told everyone that he could go on for years without recharging, he does so anyway because it makes him feel 'human'.

A terminal was placed beside the station, displaying a holographic screen and keyboard. She walked over to it and looked at the screens, seeing Alpha's energy readings and the various systems he had, ranging from visual sensors to combat attachments. She tapped on the holo-keyboard and, after several annoying tries, finally found what she was looking for and hacked into the program. She hit the Enter button and heard the machine activating, followed by a female voice.

_ /Stand by…_

_ /Unauthorized use of terminal detected. Emergency Activation Code-Gamma. Opening Recharge Station B-23I. Systems online. Occupant: Alpha Centurion. Status: Online._

_ /Releasing Occupant…_

The station moved forward and opened up, letting out steam as it did. Each part of the machine raised to different directions and slid inside one another before going inside of the main compartments on the edge. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, Alpha's fingers began to twitch and his visor eyes flashed, his systems starting to activate. He placed his hands against the back of the machine and slowly stood up, placing a hand over his head as he felt a sudden power surge through his data banks.

He activated the internal clock built inside of his head and saw that it was 1:22 AM. He groaned underneath his audio receptors, **"Damn it. I set the machine to wake me up at 6:00 AM. Something must be wrong with the systems again." **He saw the messages appearing on his screen and corrected himself, **"No… Someone woke me up from my rest. But that's impossible. Who would be dumb enough to awake a 10,000-year-old Guardian Drone from his-"** He looked to the side and saw Blue with her arms crossed on her chest and a glare focused directly on him. **"Oh."**

Blue cleared her throat as her eyes never left the ancient robot, "We need to talk. Now."

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><p><strong>(That's another chapter out of the way. And another scare session done with thanks to Nexus. I feel <em>really <em>bad for putting Yellow through this kind of stuff, but considering that this is actually linked to the later parts of the story, I decided to leave them there. That still doesn't mean I enjoy it. I'm a big fan of Yellow, as well as SpecialShipping, so you can easily tell how much I was against this idea.**

**So now you guys have a clear idea of what has been causing all the bad stuff to Logan and Yellow, as well as a little bit of foreshadowing for later parts. The next chapter will explain the _truth_ about Logan and his past, and how he and Nexus are linked.**

**Hope you guys enjoyed this story so far! Leave a review/critique if you want, and I will see you next time for Chapter 16: The Truth.)**

**~ Neoshadow574**


	17. The Truth

**(A/N: Before reading this chapter, I want to let you all know that it is pretty much a snooze fest, since it's basically just talking from two different perspectives. The ending bits are somewhat bland since I had no clear idea on what to write, and I think I might have made Blue and Yellow a bit OOC (Meaning I made them slightly different in terms of personalities). And I _really_ must apologize from the way this chapter is written. I was trying to make it the way you see in TV shows where there are two different conversations over the same topic happening at the same time. So I apologize in advance for that. Although I think it would be really easy to tell whose talking since Alpha has the bold text font.**

**On the plus side, you guys will finally learn the truth about Logan, Nexus' origin, and just what made Logan into the person he is at the present time. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, especially long, talking ones.)**

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><p><strong>Chapter 16: The Truth<strong>

_Bathroom, Blue's House, 1:16 AM, Normal POV…_

Yellow washed the scars underneath the hot water coming from the sink, the blood pouring into the drain. She pushed back more and more tears as the pain gradually grew worse. No matter how much she washed her arm, the blood just kept coming. She cringed through clenched teeth as her hand reached out for the medical kit beside the mirror and pulled out a roll of gauze. She bit down on the strap and frantically wrapped it around her arm. At first it started out as a mess, with some of it being far away from the wounds, but soon she started to get better and managed to cover every square inch of it. She tore the roll away and let go of the strap in her mouth before wrapping that around her arm and clamping them down. With that out of the way, she sat down on top of the toilet and proceeded to do the same with her feet.

It proved to take a lot less time with taking care of the injuries on her feet then her arm, since she had both her hands available this time. She washed them both with a wet cloth before wrapping the bandages around them. When she finished, she stood back up, being careful with where she stepped, and began to splash water against her face. She really needed to go back to sleep, but the nightmare shook her out of any attempts to do so. Her body shook as she stared down at the sink, her face wet with tears and sweat. She looked back up at the mirror as she wiped her eyes with her left hand…

…and screamed when she saw Nexus standing behind her.

She turned around, placing both hands against the sink as her eyes looked at the monstrosity in fear. He looked at her with no expression whatsoever on his face and spoke to her. _-Hello again, Yellow. Sorry for the sudden intrusion, but since I was unable to see you after spending so much time destroying Logan's mind, I thought that maybe now would be a good time for us to meet.-_ He leaned his head forward, close enough for her to smell the foul decaying odour from his black maw, _-Now then, where did we leave off?-_

She tried to remain strong despite her body shaking like a mini-quake and spoke through her stammering. "I-I-I'm not sc-scared of you. You're… you're not even real. Yo-You're just a figment of my… i-imagination."

_-Really? Cause from where I'm standing, you seem to be more than just 'scared'. Look at you; you're shaking like a leaf!-_

She shook her head and tried to cast a glare at him, "Go… a-away, y-you monster."

Yellow yelped out in surprise when Nexus' hand slammed against the wall on her right side. His head leaned so close to hers it was almost as though he was trying to kiss her. His wicked smile was here as parts of his body began to change, _-Monster? Now, Yellow, is that anyway to call your friend? Especially if that friend…- _The changes finally finished as he now took on the form of Red, surprising Yellow even more with how exact it was, albeit with his glowing red eyes and crooked smile, _-…Happens to be the one you're in love with.-_

Her eyes widen in shock as she saw the newly transformed Nexus before her, still smiling coyly at her. Her body made no attempts to move, but her mouth had managed to utter the words that she wanted to say, "B-But… How… did you–"

_-Silly girl,-_ Sin said through Red's voice, sounding like the real one as he did, _-I'm a part of your mind, now. Everything inside that pretty little head of yours is inside of mine.-_ He turned again and took on an exact copy of her with her everyday clothing, and continued talking through her voice, _-All your secrets and fantasies… All your memories… All your happiness and your pain… Everything that makes you for who you are, I know them all.-_ Yellow/Nexus began to twirl her finger around Yellow's hair before she continued, _-And since I know so much about you, I also know a little bit about your friends and what they look like.-_

He stepped back and transformed into Chuchu, the flower in her hair matching the real one perfectly, _-I can transform into your precious Pikachu and have you do whatever I tell you to,-_ He transformed again into Blue, _-Or be like Blue and just steal anything of importance from you, or flirt around with your precious Red,-_ Another transformation occurred, this time into Green, _-Or be Green and try to steal you away with these good looks.-_ He transformed once more back into Red and kept his glare trained on her, _-But to me, I think _this_ is far more suited for this kind of situation.-_

Yellow could feel her head starting to hurt as she shouted at him, "Enough! Jus… Just stop it! Please! Why won't you just leave me alone?!"

_-Because it's so much fun to screw you over!-_ His mouth twisted into his jagged one for a split second before it returned to normal. He kept his face dangerously close to hers and lifted his right arm up to his side, _-I've been enjoying these sessions with you so far, but I'm in a bit of a tight schedule. So I'm afraid I have no choice but to kill you here and now.-_ As soon as he said that, his right arm exploded and turned into a set of red, sickly coloured claws attached to a heavily mutated and long arm. He set the index claw against her cheek and dragged it lightly across her face before setting it underneath her chin, lifting it up slightly so he could peer into her eyes. _-Now then, do you have anything to say before I snuff out the life from your beating heart?-_ He finished saying as he flicked the finger upward, letting Yellow's head drop back down. He reared his arm back, preparing to impale her

Throughout his speech, he hadn't noticed Yellow reaching behind her back and grabbing the glass that was set beside the sink. She placed it carefully underneaththe tab and began to pour very hot water in it. She closed the tab and grab the glass, cringing as she felt the searing heat against it. With the glass now in hand, she glared at the apparition and spoke out each word as slowly as she could;

"Just one… I want you… to GET OUT OF MY FACE!"

In one swift motion, she splashed the hot water on Nexus' face. Unlike earlier where the pillow she threw at him passed through him as if he was nothing, the water now splashed against his eyes and forced him to move back, shrieking out in pain as his hands gripped onto his face. With him blinded, she dropped the glass and ran out the door, never daring to look back.

She only took a few steps forward before the hallway in front of her began to do the same thing the tunnel in her nightmare did and spiralled around. The flight of stairs that were on the opposite side went way back, far away from her reach. She heard Nexus shouting something behind her and moved down the hall, her feet stomping across the wooden floor.

Nexus stepped out of the bathroom with his normal hand still gripping on his face, half of it still Red's while the other half looked as though it melted, revealing a charred coloured skull. _-I am really going to kill you, you little bitch!-_ He screamed out as he gave chase.

Yellow heard his threat and picked up the pace. In less than twenty seconds, she reached the stairs. She was about to go down before a wall of wailing faces blocked her way, forcing her to back into a corner underneath a window. She watched as Nexus drew closer and raised the clawed arm upward, his rotting face filled with pure hatred. _-Nowhere left to run!-_

He brought the arm down, aiming it directly at Yellow's face. She screamed out and covered her head with both her arms…

A soothing voice began to echo down the hallway in a sing-song tone, forcing Nexus to retreat and convulse violently. Yellow heard the pain filled cries coming from the nightmare and watched as he vanished in the darkness, leaving her all alone as the environment returned to normal.

She could hear the calm voice still singing, though it was very faint to her ears. She looked to the door on her left and walked up to it. She placed her head against the door and could make out some of the words that were being singed;

_One day on a green and shining morn,'_

_Through all the long nights we've been fighting for,_

_There lies a place, far from disgrace,_

_Where we won't have to hide from the world again._

Slowly and carefully, Yellow opened the door and looked out to see that it led directly outside to a small balcony. A table and chair were placed next to the railing to her left. She looked the other way and saw with astonishment at who the owner of the voice was.

Saria sat on top of the railing, overlooking the vast plain that reached out from Blue's home to the Viridian Forest. Like her style of clothing, her pyjamas consisted of a long halter top and a skirt, both of them a dark shade of grey. Her hands were placed on the railing on both sides of her, keeping her supported on it. The light from the moon reflecting against her jet-black skin and her luminescent ocean blue eyes shining like twins stars gave out a certain beauty to her that set Yellow in a trance. She slowly stepped out, hearing more of Saria's singing in the silence of the night;

_Now there lies a deep love within my heart,_

_A yearn to protect you and keep you warm,_

_It's all familiar and yet so far,_

_It's made for the peace of mind._

_Fields of Hope._

Yellow stepped closer to the female Vanguard, being mindful to stay as quiet as a mouse. Her ears picked up on the calming sounds of the wind running past her and the vast forest, carrying with it any leaves that had fallen.

The floor creaked underneath her foot when she took the last step, definitely not loud enough to be a concern. However, with her sharp hearing, Saria stopped singing and her head quickly turned around to her direction. Yellow froze in place as she felt Saria's eyes focused entirely on her, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

Seeing that it was only Yellow, Saria breathed out a sigh of relief and gave her a smile, "Yellow. Good evening." She greeted, "Forgive me; I thought that you were someone else."

The Viridian Girl returned the smile with an embarrassed one and waved a hand to her. "It's okay. I didn't expect to see you out here, as well." She saw Saria's gaze fall slightly, perhaps noticing her bandaged arm. She hid it behind her back and stammered as she tried to bring up a conversation, "So… um… that song that you were singing? What was that? It sounded so beautiful."

"Oh, my apologies. I got so caught up with it that I had forgotten that people were still asleep around this around." She noticed that she was neglecting Yellow's question and apologized again before she answered, "Fields of Hope by Tanaka Rie. It has been a personal favourite of mine for some time. I do not recall where I heard it or how, but it is so far the only thing I can recall from my past." She averted her gaze from the human and looked up at the night sky, admiring the beauty that was there. "This world is simply amazing. Were it not for the fact that the Oracle Wing that is currently orbiting your world housed several thousand Vanguard refugees and our quest in finding a new home for them, I would have decided to live here."

Yellow kept moving until she was standing beside Saria and sat down on the railing next to her. She looked up at the sky and shared her thoughts with her, "I'm guessing you like how peaceful Pallet Town is?"

"It is so strange how you humans can co-exist happily with the wild Pokémon in this part of the region, and how there are no signs of pollution. The air is so clean and fresh, and the people here are so friendly. It almost feels like I am back at home." She hung her head slightly and looked back at Yellow, "Forgive me if I am being blunt, but why are you up so late? Is it not common for humans to be asleep at this hour?"

Yellow placed her arms on top of her knees and lowered her head, almost afraid to admit the truth to her. "It's… um… c-complicated."

"Is it because of my singing?" Saria asked, "I apologize if it is. I have a tendency to do that sometimes without even noticing."

"No, no, no! It's not your fault! Really!" She waved her hands at her, letting her know that it was the truth. She stopped waving and let her gaze fall, looking at the grassy field. "It's just… I've… I've kind of been having… a rough day."

Saria nodded her head in agreement as she pointed at her bandaged arm, "It would appear so. You look as though you were caught in a fight with a pack of Prowler's. What happened?"

"Well…" She had no idea what to say. She tried to think of some way to come up with a believable excuse, but none came to mind. She sighed and looked at her with a sad look in her eye. "You wouldn't believe me. You-You'd probably think that I'm being weird."

Yellow's head rose up quickly as she heard Saria laughing softly. Saria, the one person who rarely ever laughed and always seemed cautious about everything, was laughing. And it sounded so… girly. It was like the complete opposite of her whole personality. "Yellow. You are having a conversation with an alien girl from another dimension who treats you as a friend, met my friends who also hail from another dimension and have saved the life of the one person who would be able to save all of life from a tyrannical lord of darkness. I believe your viewpoint on 'weird' has left several days ago when you first met Logan."

The trainer laughed at this, seeing that the Vanguard was right. Yet her worry soon replaced that and had the same solemn look on her face. She opened her mouth to speak, letting out the uneasiness from her body.

"Do you promise not to tell anyone about it? Even if they ask you to? I… I don't want them to worry so much about me because of it."

The Vanguard looked at her with a confused, but it soon became sincere as she placed her hand against Yellow's. "I am a Vanguard of my word. Though I am sure your friends will find out eventually. They are like a family to you, and as family it is their responsibility to take care of you, as you take care of them."

"…Okay." She answered. She didn't want to admit it, but Saria was right. Her friends were the closest thing to a family that she had. It wouldn't take long for them to eventually find out that there was something bothering her. She let her body relax and looked up at the moon, letting the memories of the past few days flow through her mind. "Lately I've been having these… dreams."

"Dreams?" Saria asked, already feeling somewhat intrigued about the topic.

"Yeah. In the dreams, I would wake up and find myself in this… place. Everything was so dark, it was like I was in an abyss, or so deep underwater that no light could penetrate through the surface. I couldn't see or hear anything, but I… I felt something. I wasn't sure what it was, but I could feel something in that place. So cold, so sad, so… alone. I never felt anything like it before."

"When I looked around, I saw this moon. It… It was all covered in blood. I was terrified about it and wanted to leave, but then there was this stone path that led me somewhere deeper into the endless darkness. The more I kept moving, the more I began to see this building in the distance. By the time I got to it, the building was massive. I had to look all the way up to see the towers it had."

Saria listened carefully to Yellow, noting each description that was mentioned. "This building… What was it?"

Yellow shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. It was really big, and had this creepy style to it. I think it was a cathedral." She mentally pushed away the images of the monsters bursting into the cathedral and attacking the ball of light she saw, "But that wasn't the weird part."

"It was not?"

The Viridian Girl shook her head before she continued, "When I went inside, there was this coffin in front of the podium, surrounded by all these flowers." Yellow didn't notice it since her attention was on the sky, but had she been looking at Saria at that point, she would have seen the Vanguard tensing up a little bit. "I looked inside, and I saw this girl several years younger than me. I tried to think about whom she saw and how this happened before I saw something. Two, actually." She stopped talking in order to clear her throat and proceeded, "There was a photo in her hands where a rose once was, and in it I saw her with Logan at some party. I didn't notice it at first, but when I took a closer look, I saw that her eyes were glowing just as bright as his." Saria's hands began to fidget on her lap as she felt her heart slowing down its beat. "The other… w-was… was that she was wearing Logan's necklace. It was the same one, too, with the chain, the symbol, and everything."

She looked back at Saria, her eyes telling her that now was the time. For a moment, she thought that she saw the Vanguard becoming anxious, as if she was afraid to say something. She dismissed the thought and proceeded to get whatever was bothering her out of her chest. "I know you care about the others and respect their privacy… a-and I know you're not the kind of person to talk behind their backs… but I need to know the truth, Saria. I need to know what this all means and why I've been having these dreams,"

"I… I want you to tell me the truth… about Logan."

* * *

><p><em>Professor Oak's Lab, 1:18 AM, Normal POV…<em>

"**That's what you want to know?"** Alpha asked the older trainer, with no emotion whatsoever in his voice. Was he really that cranky about waking up so early, or did he just not care?

Blue remained in her pose and kept glaring daggers at him. "Yes. Do you have a problem with that?"

The robot shook his head at her. **"I do. I don't like ratting out on my friends, especially when one of them doesn't want people to know more about him."**

"Well, you're going to tell me; whether you want to or not!"

"**And why should I?"** He waited for her to respond, but found that she had nothing to say. She was twirling a finger around her hair, most likely nervous about confronting him. He shook his head again and proceeded to lie back down in the station. **"I thought so. Now, if you have nothing else to say, I would appreciate it if you would let me go to sleep."**

He didn't have the chance to do so as he felt a pair of hands grab him by the collar of his chestpiece and slammed him against the side of the machine. He looked up as his hand reached for an energy dagger by his side and saw Blue's angry face.

"Listen, you walking trash can! Yellow is like a little sister to me! I look after her and help her out with any problems that she has! If there's something wrong with her, and if it has something to with your shadow friend, then I have the RIGHT to know! If you don't tell me what is wrong with her right now, I will make my Blasty hit you with a Hydro Cannon so hard that you won't be able to unclogged your fucking circuits for months! Do you hear me?!" She screamed out the last bit and pulled out the Pokéball that contained the Blastoise. The Pokémon inside had the same intense glare as she did, obviously eager for a fight.

Alpha, unfazed by her threat, began to think through the possible outcomes. His hand still gripped onto the handle of the energy dagger as his optics returned the glare. If it were possible, electricity began to spark between the two as they were caught in a deadlock. After a few moments had gone by, Alpha let out a groan and let go of the concealed weapon. **"Fine. Get yourself comfortable. This will take a while."**

Satisfied with the answer, she let go of him and closed the entrance before sitting down on one of the chairs. Alpha climbed out of the machine, standing up at an exact 6 feet, and went over to her. He stopped when he was several feet away from her and crossed his arms.

Seeing that she was now putting all of her attention on him, he began to speak, **"If you want to know the truth about Logan, then you'll need to know what his life was like before any of this began."**

"Just tell me." Blue demanded, impatience already starting to overcome her senses.

He groaned at this, wanting to just go back to sleep. But he remembered how serious Blue was with her threat and decided to just endure it. He cleared his throat and began the story, **"You may think that Logan seems cold and ruthless, and let's not forget temperamental. But, he was never like this****…"**

* * *

><p>"He was actually much different when he was little." Saria began, "Always full of energy, always ready to take on any kind of challenge, he was the kind of person who always had a smile on his face and made others feel happy. It is… strange, actually. From what Amanda has told me, he sounds just like you."<p>

Yellow blushed slightly upon hearing this. It felt strange hearing that someone she knew was very similar to her many years ago.

"It is hard to imagine that a sweet and adventurous boy like him became the person that he is now. Before, he did not even care what kind of problems he was dealing with. He would always face it with that goofy smile of his and think that it was all some part of a game. Now, however, whenever a problem arrives, he worries about the others and tries to deal with them all by himself, regardless of the dangers he would be facing."

"'Worries'? I didn't know Logan was the worrying type." Yellow interrupted, "He always struck me as the fearless strong-headed kind of person."

Saria stifled another chuckle, "Believe me when I say that he _always_ worries about us. Do you remember when Legion captured me and had me trapped inside of him?"

"Don't remind me. I still feel a little shaken up from fighting that thing. Why?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, Logan is actually afraid of water."

The news surprised Yellow greatly as she looked at Saria with wide eyes, "He is?! Since when?"

"Ever since he was four." She explained, "He was at a beach one day with his family when he got caught in a tide and began to drown. His older sister saw what was happening to him and pulled him out before it could get any worse. As a result, he refuses to go anywhere near any body of water. Yet even with his fear of water, he was willing to put his life on the life in danger in order to save mine."

Yellow nodded her head, understanding the story so far as Saria continued, "Other than that, Logan has always been a free-spirited individual. At least, he was, before _It_ happened."

"_What_ happened?"

* * *

><p>"<strong>About ten years ago, something happened to him and it resulted in him getting severely injured, as well as witnessing the death of somebody close to him."<strong> Alpha continued on, **"Since then, Logan has mentally blocked himself away from everyone, letting the pain, the sorrow and the grief torment him up to now. It's the reason why he's so aggressive and distant from a lot of people; his grief has consumed his heart so much that he refuses to let go of the past. He believes that it's the only thing that still remains of his humanity."**

Blue felt the emotions on her face slacken bit by bit as she heard more and more about Logan. She didn't want to admit it, but she felt sorry for him. Anyone who was as innocent and spirited as Yellow didn't deserve such a fate. A question began to linger in her mind and she voiced it out as soon as Alpha finished, "Does this have anything to do with a guy named Nexus?"

The ancient robot stopped talking and looked at her, a look of pure shock clear in his optics, **"How did you… Where did you hear that name?"**

"That was who Yellow was calling when I was eavesdropping on her. She said that he was the reason for the nightmares." She scratched the back of her head wearily, "At least, that's what I think." She saw him placing a hand up to his face and saying something in his language, most likely upset about something. She remembered the injuries she saw on Yellow and quickly added, "She woke up two nights in a row screaming from a nightmare she was having, and the second time I went to go see her, there were these claw marks on her arm, and this red mark on her neck… like someone was trying to strangle her." She saw Alpha stopping what he was doing and had his back turned on her. She kept pushing him as she got up from her chair, "Look, I know that I can be bossy sometimes, and might act like I don't care what happens to other people, but I do. I want to help Yellow with whatever's hurting her, and I'm sure Red would want to do the same even more. If I am going to help her, then I need to know who Nexus is. So please, tell me."

Alpha sighed in defeat and shook his head. _I can't believe I'm doing this._ He thought before his audio box kicked in again, **"Nexus is an apparition, a piece of Logan that exists deep within his mind. A ghost, if you want to put it in simpler terms."** He explained, **"To all living beings, there are many sides of themselves that exist within their brain, giving them different personalities and interests. Nexus is one of them, and he is by far the worst of them all."** He paused for a moment, most likely for dramatic effect, before he continued,** "After the incident that happened ten years ago, the grief and sadness inside of Logan's heart was so powerful that it created a being that represented them. Since he's a part of Logan's subconscious, only he can see him, which makes it easier for him to put Logan through numerous hallucinations and horrific nightmare sequences."**

Blue couldn't believe what she was hearing, and she voiced out her disbelief, "Wait… Why is he even tormenting Logan? What did he ever do to him?"

"**You don't understand, Blue. Nexus is the part of Logan that **_**wants**_** to die."**

Blue's face became stricken with horror. She wasn't expecting that kind of answer. "W-What?"

Alpha leaned back and crossed his arms, **"Let me explain; the incident left Logan broken and distressed. It caused him to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD for short. He blames himself for the incident and sees that there's no point in living in a life where all you feel is nothing but agony and pain, leading him to have suicidal thoughts. Nexus, as the part of the brain where guilt and sorrow override everything, plans on making Logan do so by putting him through horrific nightmares and hallucinations. He thinks that by doing so will weaken him enough for him to take control over him and have him commit suicide."**

Blue nodded her head. That explains his unusual behaviour, and the way he fought against that armoured Endless back at Celadon. This Nexus was responsible for all of this. "Okay… I see what you mean." She said to him before her eyes became more serious. "But how is it that you know so much about him even though Logan's the only one who can see him?"

"**I don't."** Alpha admitted, **"Saria's the one who told me."**

"Saria? How does she know?"

* * *

><p>"It started after the first three days I came aboard the Oracle Wing." Saria explained, "I noticed the way he was acting in his sleep, something you humans would call having a bad dream. I was not sure what was wrong with him, so I used my powers and entered his mind."<p>

This surprised Yellow once more. "You can do that?"

The Vanguard nodded, "There is a limitation, however, upon using such an ability. If the nightmare proves to be life-threatening, or if the connection between both minds is severed, then the one who uses the power could receive severe or fatal injuries. This was how I learned of Nexus' existence… and I barely escaped from him with my life."

Yellow remained silent as she listened to Saria explain what she had seen, "Darkness that expands as far as the eye can see, crosses that have been deformed or gnarled from the twisted nightmares, the blood red moon reflecting its faint glow on the black sea beneath my feet. And the creatures…" The young trainer's mind began to replay the memories of seeing the horrific creatures and running away from them in the crazy tunnel network, "Nothing on Valkeron or beyond the far reaches of space could ever hope to match how frightening those things were. And to make it worse; I recognized some of them."

"You… know them?"

"The people that they were disguising themselves as. My guess is that anybody who Logan meets, his mind creates two different variations of them; one is the real them that Logan remembers, the other their nightmarish forms." She shivered slightly, something that Yellow knew that it wasn't from the cold, before she continued, "After I learned what was wrong with him, I reported to Alpha what I discovered. His response was that I needed to keep this a secret. If the others were to find out that Logan was undergoing a severe case of mental depression, then he would not be able to perform his duty as the Chosen Warrior for the Vanguards and all of life."

"But what does that have to do with me?" Yellow asked her. She didn't show it, but she was really starting to panic. She desperately needed to know the truth. She clasped her hands together and began to beg to the Vanguard, "Please, Saria! I need to know! Why is Nexus doing all of this to me?"

Saria could see the tears streaming down the poor girl's face and felt a pang of guilt in her chest. She placed her hands on top of Yellow's and spoke softly, "Relax, Yellow. Now, try to think back. When was the first time you encountered him?"

Yellow thought hard at this and looked over all the events that happened in the past few days. "First time…" She said to herself as the memories of seeing Nexus prying himself from the glass of the building like a painting coming to life and walking over to her with those empty, bleeding sockets of his. "…Celadon. Celadon City was where I first saw him."

"Celadon City." Saria repeated before her eyes widen. "Was that not the same city that was attacked by the Endless a few days ago?" She saw Yellow nodding her head. "Alright, can you recall what you did before you encountered him?"

"Y-Yeah… When Logan finished fighting against all those Endless and you were trying to comfort him, I… I heard voices."

"Voices?"

"I… I might have been imagining it, but for a moment, I thought the voices were coming from Logan." She saw Saria looking at her in confusion and tried to explain, "The symbol on his back… it was glowing, and I heard the voices coming from there. I don't know why, but it felt like they were calling out to me. I walked up to him to hear the voices a bit clearer, but I didn't realize that my hand touched the symbol before it was too late. I saw these images in my head… Horrible images… and I saw _Him_ standing there next to a building."

Saria cupped her hand underneath her chin and pondered for a moment before she answered, "I believe I know why."

"You do?"

* * *

><p>"<strong>You stated that your friend has the ability to read the minds of Pokémon, correct?"<strong> The ancient robot saw Blue nodding her head, **"She may have somehow activated her power the moment she came in contact with the symbol. It enabled her to read his mind, thus transferring the nightmares and images that Nexus had summoned into **_**her**_** mind. It's also the reason why she is able to see him. Nexus must have sent a fragment of himself to torture her at the same time he was torturing Logan."**

"I don't understand. How can one little touch on some guy's back do all this?" Blue asked.

"**You're a smart girl, Blue. Do you recall feeling something powerful whenever you're near him?"**

She tapped her upper lip with a slender finger before she gave out a response, "Come to think of it, I do. But, what does that have to do with…"

Alpha stopped her midsentence as his voice modulator began to speak behind the faceplate. **"Logan has yet to master his powers, so he lets loose a vast amount of unused energy. And as a result of his constant transformations into his Rage Form, this energy is expelled even more from him. The symbol on his back and the one in his right eye release those energies into the air, which creates a thick aura around him that lets other people feel the power that he possesses within him. It's possible that Yellow somehow must have came in contact with the energy and read his mind through it, explaining all the problems your friend is having."** He paused for a moment as his systems began to overheat a little bit. Apparently he wasn't used to talking this much for a long time. **"Now, I've explained Logan's background, Nexus' origin, and the possible reason why your friend is able to see him. Is there anything else you want to ask before I go back to sleep?"**

She went back to thinking as she looked away from Alpha. Truth be told, there was really nothing else that she wanted to ask him. Nothing of importance, anyway. There was one that kept appearing in her head, but she kept pushing it away since it didn't seem very important. Plus, it would be kind of rude to ask. But the more she thought over all the things she heard from Alpha, the more it seemed to pop up. She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it after having second thoughts. What if the topic made the conversation too uncomfortable? Would if Alpha told Logan and the others what he told her? Was it really that important for her to ask the robot instead of the Vanguard himself and learn the truth from him?

_No._ She thought out loud, _I came too far to just give up. Yellow's in danger, and it's my job to keep her safe until I know she's ready._ She opened her mouth once more… and she dared not to close it again until she found out what she wanted to know. "Actually, I do."

* * *

><p>"I know this must be hard for you to believe, but I must inform you that everything that I have told you up to this point is the truth. Logan's past, Nexus' origin, how you are able to see him; all of it is true." Saria finished as she began to take a few deep breath. Her hand rubbed the surface of her neck. Her throat was on fire. She had never talked this much before, and whenever she was, Logan would stop her before she finished in order to catch her breath.<p>

Yellow, meanwhile, remained silent as she tried to sort through all the things Saria had said. It made sense. All of it was beginning to make sense. The nightmares, the encounters, Logan's rage, they were all Nexus' doing. And the one responsible for creating him was whoever killed the person Logan knew when he was a kid. She shuddered at the thought of having all those horrible feelings being bottled up deep inside of him. The fact that Logan alone withstood those nightmares and encounters for _ten years_ was truly a sign of someone with great endurance. If it had been her, she wouldn't have lasted even for a week.

A grim thought raced across her mind as she remembered the girl in the coffin and what Saria told her about Logan. If the death of someone important to him caused him to be so aggressive, could it be that the girl was…?

Sensing the younger girl's dilemma, Saria spoke up, "Yellow, I have told you everything that I know, yet your heart yearns to know the answer to one question that still remains unanswered. And from the way your eyes look, the question would bring heavy news to you upon finding out what really happened, would it?"

Once again, Yellow was caught by Saria's vision trick. She really needed to get herself that kind of ability. She wondered if t was similar to her power to read a Pokemon's thoughts in their heart through touch.

The question she had in mind, though… she didn't know if she should ask it. It might be too upsetting to talk about, or too much for her to handle. But she needed to know. She needed to know everything. If she wanted to understand all of this, she would need the _whole_ truth.

She opened her mouth and let the words flow through, "There is… one thing, but I…" She couldn't bring herself to say it. The very thought itself was too much for her to handle.

"If there is something you wish to talk about, you may tell me without worry. You are my friend, Yellow, and it is natural for friends to help one another in their time of need." Saria told her with the softest voice she could muster.

Her words were enough to give Yellow the boost of confidence she needed to continue speaking. She gave out a small smile to the Vanguard and spoke once more, "You mentioned that the cause of Logan's sadness was the death of someone he once knew?"

"Yes." Saria replied.

"And you know how I told you about the girl that I saw in my dream? The one in the cathedral?"

"…Yes."

"There was something I didn't mention before because I wasn't entirely sure about it," She looked back at the Viridian Forest, trying to keep back some tears as the thoughts began to haunt her, "There was a plaque on her coffin that said '_A loving sister. An amazing friend. A caring mother._' I understood what it meant, but I didn't know why it was connected to Logan until you brought it up." She saw Saria tensing out of the corner of her eye, but kept going, "You said that Logan became the way he is after witnessing the death of somebody he knew, so when I remembered the girl in my dream, I finally realized who she was."

"Which brings me to my next question," She let her gaze drop a bit and turned to face Saria. The moment she lifted her head up, Saria could clearly see the sadness and pain in her yellow eyes. "The girl that I saw… it was her, wasn't it? She was Lucy…"

"…Logan's older sister?"

* * *

><p>The lab became silent right after Blue asked the question. Neither of them were prepared for it and stayed quiet, as if saying just one thing would end this conversation. Even Alpha, who was one of the most disciplined and strategic robots ever built by the Vanguards, was as uncomfortable as Blue was.<p>

He brought a hand up to his optics and furrowed his 'brows', mumbling something before he looked back at the teen, **"How did you come across that information?"**

She took a momentary sigh before she began to explain, "Before I left, I overheard Yellow mentioning something about a girl and how she might be linked to Logan. On the way over here, I thought over all the girls that Logan met in his life that were important to him, and only two people came into mind. Sol and Lucy. Amanda and Morgan are still alive, so they were ruled out, Leira wasn't even born then, so she's also out, and Logan had said that the last time he ever saw Sol was when she boarded the plane for Japan. By process of elimination, the only other girl that Logan could have witnessed her death was Lucy, his older sister."

"**You have a very… perspective mind."** Alpha stated, feeling somewhat impressed by the girl's talents, **"It still doesn't help the fact way you asked it."**

Blue felt satisfied that he acknowledged her talent, but at the same time felt her blood boil. It was obvious that he was hiding something about Logan. She could see it from the way he cocks his head whenever he crosses his arms. "Look, I just want to know what happened. After that, I won't ask you anything else. I'll go back home and sleep and you can go back to recharging your batteries."

"**I don't run on batteries. I run on a MK 7 Quantum Tesla Reactor that is powerful enough to generate a Vanguard warship for 750 years."**

"Will you stop going into 'Nerd Mode' and just tell me what happened to Lucy?"

Alpha moved so fast that Blue's eyes could not even register and appeared right in front of her. He leaned his head forward and stared down at her. From her position, she could see the internal mechanisms in his optics. His gaze was serious and his tone was so robotic it made him more intimidating. **"Listen, and listen to me very carefully. This is not something that is freely discussed. It is kept as a secret for a reason. Just knowing the amount of pain and suffering that he has been through his whole life will make you experience sadness than you can ever imagine. Do you really think that you will be able to endure all of that just to know what is wrong with your friend? Do you think that you can handle it, **_**human**_**?"**

Her fingers curled on the fabric of her shorts as she pondered over the thought. She had told herself since she left her house that she wanted to know the whole truth, and by Arceus she was going to find out about it. She returned Alpha's intense gaze with one of her own, leading to a duel of glares between the two.

"Yes."

They both remained silent for several long moments before Alpha sighed in defeat. He had to admit, she was a stubborn one. Just as much as Logan. **"…Alright. I'll tell you. But you must promise that you will not tell anyone about this? Understand?"**

"Promise."

He took a few steps back to give her breathing distance and folded his arms. **"I don't know the full details since it was all based off of the dream that Saria saw, so there may be some things left out. It all began about ten years ago…"**

* * *

><p>"Logan and his family were playing in the neighbourhood park a few days after the New Year's celebration. At the time, Logan had recently turned six years old." Saria explained to Yellow, seeing the curiosity in the child growing more and more with each word that came out of her mouth, "Everything was fine before everything started to change. The sky, which was partially cloudy and sunny, suddenly became as dark as night and a massive thunderstorm rolled in. The rain suddenly poured down hard on them and they decided to head home early so they wouldn't catch a fever." She paused for a moment and felt a sudden chill run up her spine. It didn't leave the young trainer's attention so easily, and she was about to ask what was wrong before she continued, "That was before <em>It<em> came."

Yellow knew right away where this was going and kept silent, feeling the fear already growing inside her, "As the lightning arced across the sky, they heard a monstrous roar from behind them. They all looked… and standing on top of the play structure with its long claws scrapping along the roof of it… was a Hunter."

"A… Hunter?" Yellow began, "What's that?"

* * *

><p>"<strong>The Hunters are one of the most ruthless and dangerous Endless to ever walk the land of the living."<strong> Alpha explained, **"Stronger and faster than any known Endless, the Hunters are nothing but pure killing machines that will destroy everything that gets in their way. They thrive on death and relish it more than the life force that exists within their victims like other Endless do. This not only makes them incredibly dangerous, but also extremely feral. They kill other Endless and sometimes one another to satisfy their thirst for death."**

Blue felt mortified about this information. When she saw the Endless at Celadon, the Grims, the Prowlers, even the Titan, she expected the latter to be the worst of them all, but hearing about one that was not only faster but _stronger_ than it made her dread the idea of seeing one.

She heard Alpha adding something a few moments after the last one, and this one made her even more horrified, **"The Hunter that Logan and his family encountered was an agent for the Dark Lord sent to eliminate him."**

She raised her hands up as the horror was clearly seen in her eyes, "Whoa, hold on a second. Isn't that a bit too much to send something like that to kill him? He was six, for Arceus' sake! Wouldn't it have made more sense to send one of those skeletal things to kill him?"

Alpha shook his head. **"You're missing the point. Logan is chosen by the Vanguard Council* **_**and**_** the Twin Gods* of Valkeron to be the one to bring back order and balance between Light and Darkness, which means **_**he**_** is the only one who has the power to save all of life. The Dark Lord wants to prevent that from happening so that he can create his own. When he learned about Logan's existence, he didn't waste a second and sent his most powerful minion to kill him. He would have done so himself, but after his fight with Vitaru 5,000 years ago, the last chosen Warrior, he hid away in order to regain his power. He didn't want to take any chances if Logan had discovered his powers."**

Some of the colour on Blue's face drained away, leaving it paler than it was before. How could anyone go so far as to kill an innocent child before they found out what they were destined for, even if that child did become the short-tempered and somewhat distant Vanguard today?

"**As I was saying, the Hunter leaped from its vantage point and began its mission…"**

* * *

><p>"It ensured that Drew, Morgan and Lucy were separated from Logan before it focused its attention on him. He ran for his life when Lucy told him to, but the Endless caught up with him and managed to claw him across the chest, leaving the three scars that you saw."<p>

"Arceus…" Yellow mumbled as she lifted a hand up to her mouth. The more she listened to this story, the more mortified she became. Saria wasn't kidding when she said the topic would be disturbing for her to hear. One glance at the scars from before was enough to let her know that the pain Logan felt that day was immeasurable to anything else.

"Weakened and bleeding from the newly made wounds, Logan tried to limp away as the beast drew closer and closer to him, raising one of its claws over its head. This next part is something that even I am amazed about, and I learned about it when I had dived into his memories. He looked back at the creature and raised his hand to tell it to go away, and a second later the Hunter was hit by a powerful blast of darkness and sent flying back to the structure." Yellow could make out the excitement in Saria's voice, which was quite strange to hear from her, "Now normally Vanguards are unable to use their powers until the age of ten, and by then their powers are very weak unless they receive training. But the amount of power that Logan had generated was similar to the power of your Chuchu's Volt Tackle, and this was when he was six! When I saw that happen, I knew that I was right when I believed that he was the one!"

Yellow looked at Saria in confusion, sweat dropping at the same time. "Um… Saria? I think you're going off topic."

A small blush appeared on the Vanguards night coloured face and she let out a small sound, something that sounded similar to a gasp, but it didn't sound like one, "I am? My apologies. It is just that I have never seen such a remarkable feat done by a member of my kind before, especially from one who was so very young. Uh… Where did I leave off?"

"You were talking about the Hunter being hit by a blast of darkness and flying into the play structure?"

"Oh yes! Thank you, Yellow." She happily gave the young trainer a smile before continuing, "Anyway, the attack had done a number on the Endless, but it was too weak to have left any serious damage on it. It shook away the pain and charged right at Logan, rearing its clawed hand back before lunging it forward." The air suddenly grew tense as Saria's voice droned down to a whisper, a tone of sadness that was impossible to ignore, "Just when he was about to die, _she_ stepped in."

Yellow knew right away who she was referring to, yet she couldn't help but say the name, "…Lucy."

Saria nodded her head slowly, "She just appeared out of nowhere, right between Logan and the charging Endless. Before I realized what she was doing, it was too late. A sound of flesh being impaled… a scream… and then there was silence. Soon, this pillar of light appeared where Lucy once was, engulfing both her and the Hunter in it."

"When the light faded, I found that the memory had skipped forward. There were these humans armed with weapons and cars everywhere. I looked around, and I saw no traces of the Endless… but at the same time, I saw something that would forever burn an imprint within my heart."

* * *

><p>"<strong>She saw Logan kneeling there, holding his older sister's head in one hand, and holding her hand in another. There were tears streaming down his face… and he cried."<strong> Blue could see the equivalent of a shiver in Alpha's body movements when he said that last part,** "His cries… She told me that she had never heard a sound so heart wrenching. He was screaming to the heavens, his tears flying everywhere, and the blood from his wounds spilling onto the ground. Yet he ignored the pain. Even when the paramedics tried to take him away, he remained where he was. He did not want to leave her there in the middle of the storm."** Alpha stopped for a moment as the information began to take its toll in his data banks, continuing only because the human won't leave him alone if he didn't finish, **"He stayed there for minutes, holding onto his sister, crying and screaming. He was taken to the hospital soon after. They managed to stop the blood flow, but the damage was irreversible. Logan became a shadow of his former self, all broken and depressed, and gave rise to the new him. The distant, angrier and vengeful Logan that we now know."**

He looked up at Blue, seeing her face stricken with horror and sadness upon hearing this, and let his steel gaze do the talking. **"Now do you see why I didn't want to discuss this with you? Logan has lost his entire childhood because of that Hunter as well as himself. He no longer cares what happens to him, nor does he care about what others think. He doesn't like people showing him sympathy, or taking pity on him. He thinks that those kinds of things will make him weak. He only cares about becoming stronger, so that he'll prevent this kind of thing from happening to anyone else."** His voice began to raise its tone as he confronted the trainer. **"That is why Logan despises Endless. That is why he no longer cares about his own life. And that is how Nexus came to be born. Everything that made Logan into the person he is now, is all because of that one tragic event. Do you feel happy, knowing a friend's deepest, darkest secret? Do you feel happy now that you have something to blackmail him and make him do whatever the hell you want?"**

Blue looked at him in dismay before he cut her off, **"I told you everything you wanted to hear. There's nothing else to discuss about."**

The older teen lowered her head and raised a hand up to her eyes, a single tear falling from her left eye. _Arceus… Why?_ She thought grimly to herself.

The room grew silent once more as Blue silently wept to herself, and Alpha's mind was somewhere else. No one wanted to say anything to break the silence.

* * *

><p>Tears were streaming down Yellow's face as she felt Saria wrapping her arms around her, pulling her into a hug. She buried her face in the fabric of her top, staining it with her tears. The Vanguard felt a growing pain inside of her upon seeing the young girl in this state and hummed a soft melody while moving her fingers along her hair. She rocked back and forth on the railing gently as she tried to cheer her friend up. It was working from the way Yellow slowed down her crying, but it was not enough for her to stop altogether. She refused to say anything that would break the silence and allowed her to continue crying.<p>

After a couple of minutes, Yellow's tears came to a slow halt and she slowly lifted her head, wiping away the strands of hair that were stuck on her face and looping them over her ears. She moved the same hand over eyes and wiped away the few tears that still remained.

Saria looked at her friend and spoke softly to her, "Will you be alright, Yellow?"

She sniffled a few times as her finger caught another tear that left her eye, "I… I don't know… _(Sniffle)_… I mean… How could anyone be alright after hearing that? _(Sniffle)_… I-I already knew that something bad had happened to Logan from the way he acted… but I never expected it to be this bad…" The wind blew past her, lifting her long hair up before it dropped back down on her back, "Poor Logan… He… He didn't deserve to go through that kind of trauma when he was a kid. He was just a kid! Why would someone do this to him?"

"I believe that no living soul should ever undergo such a traumatic experience, especially at a very young age." Saria began, "But unfortunately, it is how fate is written. No matter how hard we try to change it, or how hard we try to convert it into the way we want, it will always happen. No matter the time, or the place. Lucy did not deserve such a death by the hands of that Endless, but you must remember that, if she had not stepped in and defended Logan, then it would have been him who died that day, as well as any chances of restoring balance to all of life and ending this war. What she had done for her brother was one of the most noble and heroic deeds that I have ever seen."

Yellow closed her eyes tightly as she felt more tears coming. She felt a sudden wave of fatigue washing over her body and let out a yawn, catching the Vanguard's attention. She raised a closed hand up to her left eye and rubbed it, trying so hard to stay awake.

She turned her body around so that she was facing the human and looked at her with concern, "It is getting late, Yellow. Perhaps it is time for you to go to bed."

"No… I'm not… tired…" Yellow countered back, but another yawn came out of her mouth, proving to Saria that she was, indeed, tired.

The Vanguard smiled at this and helped her down from the railing, "You are, _Amarillo_. Now come on. Allow me to escort you back to your room."

Seeing no point in arguing with her, Yellow grabbed onto Saria's arm and let her walk her back inside. As they passed a few doors in the hallway, she spoke out, "Hey… Saria?"

"Yes Yellow?"

"I know that… you already told this to Blue and Amanda, but… after hearing you talk about him… I couldn't help but notice how much you cared about him."

She gave a puzzled look to the human, unsure as to where she was going, "I… am not sure if I follow."

"What I'm… trying to ask is… do you really like Logan? As in… more than just a friend?"

The question came as a complete surprise to the Vanguard, yet she kept her composure in check. Her mind began to think through the possible reasons as to why Yellow would ask such a question, when it was perfectly clear that she dismissed it the last few times the others had asked. Yet there was something about Yellow, something about her nature and personality that made it difficult for her to say anything. In fact, the more she tried to push the thoughts away, the clearer they became. With no way to explain this strange outcome, she said, "I… do not know. I have known Logan for only a few months, yet he is already one of my closest friends. He understands me more than anyone else. Why do you ask?"

Yellow felt a bit of her blood rushing up to her cheeks as the words began to fumble in her mouth, "I-It's just that… you two… look like a really good couple… when you're together."

For reasons even Saria couldn't explain, her heart was racing, and it wasn't because of the adrenaline. A deeper shade of red appeared on her face, feeling more perplexed than before. She looked away from the young trainer as they continued moving down the hall, "It is late, Yellow. Let us dwell on these kinds of thoughts tomorrow, when the sun is up."

"All… All right."

* * *

><p>Blue fumbled with the knob on the lab door, still shaken from what she heard. Alpha proceeded to move back to the Recharge Station, placing a hand on the side of it as he waited for the human to leave. Her hand slowly turned the handle until she heard the click, letting her know that she can now open the door. She looked back at the robot and saw him standing there, unmoving like a statue.<p>

She took a deep breath closed the door, removing her hand from it and turned back around, "Alpha?"

"**What?"** He asked, a little cranky this time.

"I just want to… apologize, for what I said earlier."

"**Don't worry about it."**

"No. I should. It was really uncalled for. I wasn't thinking straight. I only acted that way because I was worried about Yellow. And now, after hearing all of this…" Her voice faded as her mind began to play back all the information that she heard, feeling more and more upset with each graphic detail. She shook her head to get rid of the thoughts and continued, "I don't want you to think that I'm some kind of crazy psycho because of what I said. I was only looking out for my friend."

Alpha stayed still for a moment before he looked back to face her, staring at her intently with his orange optics. His hand reached to the back of his head and scratched it, mimicking a human scratching their hair. **"…Listen, kid. I… I didn't mean what I said earlier about you, either. You're a really bright and helpful girl to your friends. Not to mention stubborn to a point like a certain Vanguard I know, but I guess that's one of your redeeming qualities."**

He grabbed something from the pack that was beside the machine and tossed something to her. She caught the object and looked at it. It was a capsule, with what looked like pills inside of it. "What's this?" She asked him.

"**Medicine."** Alpha replied, **"It's to reduce the possibilities of having nightmares and hallucinations. Made it myself. Be sure Yellow takes two pills as soon as she wakes up and two more before going to bed. It isn't much, but it should be enough to keep Nexus from making her go insane. And don't worry; it's not addictive."**

She nodded her head to him and made her way over to the door, "I'll be sure that she takes them when I get back."

"**Alright. Safe trip."** He replied back as he hefted one leg inside of the machine.

The door was now wide open as a cold breeze blew in, lifting her coat up in its way. She took a few steps forward onto the front porch, but soon stopped. Her gaze fell down to her shoes, lost in thought, before she looked back. "Alpha?"

The robot stopped what he was doing and lifted his head up, not looking at her but still listening, **"What is it?"**

She struggled to form the words out of her mouth, as the topic was already uncomfortable inside her head. Her throat became a little dry as her mouth stayed open, letting out a few 'uh's' here and there. "…Will… Will Logan be alright? With the nightmares and all? Do you think he'll ever be… normal again, like he was before the incident?"

Alpha became silent, his grip tightening on the side of the machine. He looked over his shoulder with a strange look in his optics, something that Blue had never seen in a robot before. **"I'm not sure, Blue. Honestly, I'm not sure if he'll ever be the same again."** His voice was strangely quiet when he answered.

"Oh…" She uttered, feeling down once more. Through her sadness, she tried to give out a smile and added calmly, "That's too bad. I kind of wanted to see what he was like before the incident. He seems like a nice guy." And with that, she closed the door behind her, leaving Alpha alone in silence.

He lifted his hand off of the machine and noticed the hand-shaped indent that was there. He miscalculated his strength once again. Yet that didn't matter at the moment. He glanced down at his hand, seeing the circuitry inside of the glowing, electrical lines and clenched it tightly. **"Yeah. He was."** He muttered before he climbed inside the machine and activated it. The lid slid down and the wires connected to the back of his head again, letting him wonder back into his data banks.

* * *

><p><em>Blue's House, 1:34 AM, Normal POV…<em>

It was quiet as soon as Blue returned to her house, meaning that Yellow must have already gone back to sleep. She slipped her shoes off and hung her coat up before she started climbing up the stairs. She walked down the hallway, thinking over the things Alpha had told her over and over again, before her eyes caught sight of something that surprised her.

Saria was standing in front of the door that led to the guest bedroom, muttering something before closing it. She was wearing a set of grey pj's, something that didn't seem to fit her, in her opinion. She walked up to the Vanguard, staring at her luminescent eyes, before those eyes suddenly looked right at her.

The two exchanged glances with one another as Saria lowered her hand, which suddenly became engulfed in a white light. "Blue? Forgive me, you startled me. I did not hear you coming."

"Yeah… Same here." Blue admitted. She was confused as to why Saria was here, or why she was in front of Yellow's room. Her motherly side started to kick in as she spoke to her, "What are you doing here, anyway? Did something happen to Yellow while I was gone?"

She shook her head and lifted a hand up, "It is alright, Blue. Your friend is safe. She is just resting." She said as calmly as she could in hopes of keeping Blue feeling the same way. "She had difficulty sleeping, so she went to go get a drink. She heard me singing out on the balcony, and we started talking."

Blue's eyes switched between her and the door before finally settling back on her, "What were you guys talking about?"

"…Just some stuff. No need of concern, though."

She didn't buy it. She could easily tell it was a lie from how unsure Saria sounded. But she was too tired to continue the conversation any further. She rubbed her eyes and yawned loudly, "Hey, it's been a long day for the both of us. Why don't we call it a night?"

"Of course." Saria replied as she walked passed her towards the flight of stairs, "I wish you a good night's rest, Blue."

She watched the Vanguard walking down the stairs, seeing only half of her body from where she was. She took a step after her and spoke up, "Saria…"

The Vanguard looked back at the trainer, "What is it?"

"We… haven't really talked all that much since we met, since you're usually running off with Logan to some crazy fight against those things and all." She began, "Me and Green are going out tomorrow to pick up a few things, so if want, you can come and tag along. It'd be nice to know a little bit more about you… and about your people."

Saria was stunned at the invitation, but quickly smiled and nodded her head, "That is very generous of you, Blue. I look forward to our discussion then. Good night."

"Night."

And with that, Saria vanished from her line of sight and she heard the door closing. She took a deep breath and walked back into her own bedroom, setting the capsule of pills on the cabinet before flopping onto bed. She pulled the covers over her and closed her eyes, trying to push away all the grim thoughts that came into mind and pictured herself with Green eating at a fancy restaurant. Her lips grew into a wide smile as she fell into a deep slumber.

_Offworlder's* Tent, 1:35 AM, Normal POV…_

* * *

><p>All Saria could see the moment she returned to the tent was Logan's sleeping form on the bed. His back was turned on her, so his left arm was nestled underneath him while his mechanical one was over the sheet that covered him. Unlike before, he wasn't writhing in his sleep, meaning that he wasn't suffering from another nightmare. She sat on the side of the bed and gently stroked one of his antennas before her hand glided over to touch the cold steel of his arm. She felt her heart growing heavy upon sensing his grief.<p>

While they were both able to see other people's emotions, history and everything that made them for who they are, they were unable to do any of that save for a few when it came to other Vanguards and other races created by the Twin Gods. That means that they were immune to their own 'mind-reading' trick. They were still able to sense the light and darkness as well as their emotions, but that was about it. Saria mentally swore at how unfair this 'rule' was, believing that it kept their own kind from becoming more connected with one another in terms of acceptance and understanding. But it is how it is, and she couldn't think of anymore reason to hate it.

She stayed in that position for a good minute before she lied down on the bed next to him. She pulled the covers up to her neck and nuzzled closer to Logan, feeling the warmth from his back. Her eyes began to water as she whispered Logan's name before she felt the lulling calls of sleep speaking to her. She closed her eyes… and saw darkness waiting for her.

* * *

><p><em>Terms and Vocabulary…<em>

*Vanguard Council: A council of ancient and powerful Vanguards, known to be the first ones ever created. All decisions and judgements are done by them in order to keep their people safe. After the Great War, they have made drastic measures in order to keep the Vanguards from going extinct. Not much is known about them or where they have gone to 5,000 years ago.

*Twin Gods: The Twin Gods of Valkeron, Daedulus and Solaris, are both brother and sister, and as such treat each other like one. While Daedulus is more headstrong and quick thinking, Solaris is calm and graceful, with a bit of a playful side. They take care of the different races and cultures that they have created and decide along with the Council on who is next in line to become the next Guide and Warrior.

*Offworlders: A name that Brady came up with to call the team during their travels. Not a very good choice in the others opinions, but much better than the last several dozen names Brady came up with.

* * *

><p><strong>(The lyrics that are on this chapter are from the song called "Fields of Hope" by Rie Tanaka (Or Tanaka Rie if you say it like that) and I find it to be one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. The lyrics are mostly leaned onto the English version sung by a YouTuber named Desimaemae, and I think they're the right English translation from the original Japanese one. Sadly, her video was taken down from the site due to copyright claims, so I can't show you guys the awesome video (Her singing is incredible!).<strong>

**Interesting fact: the giant creature that Yellow encountered in her nightmare in Chapter 15 is actually a manifestation of the Hunter Endless itself! That means that Yellow had just barely survived an encounter from one of the most dangerous Endless ever created.)**


	18. Behind The Mask

**A _**month**_.**

**A month it's been since I posted the last chapter.**

**…Ugh. I really don't know what to say right now, other than the fact that this chapter was almost impossible to do. I had to change it several times in order to not make it long, boring, complicated, or all those things at the same time.**

**I'm really sorry everyone. The story will get a lot better later on.**

**~ Neoshadow574**

**EDIT:**** Fixed the time when the group arrives in pewter City because the later chapters are meant to happen at nightfall, so it wouldn't make any sense if there was a massive gap between the time of each event.**

**(PS: If you guys want to read another fanfic story I made, it's called Understanding based off of the TV serie Wakfu. Just go to my profile and you'll find it there. Much easier than having to search for it.)**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 17: Behind The Mask<strong>

_The Next Day, 8:34 AM, Normal POV…_

Saria slipped on her sandals after she finished wrapping the cloth around her chest and stepped out of the tent. She stretched her arms up and twisted her body around, hearing a few of her bones cracking in response. She never admitted it to anyone, but she would often times curl up in her sleep, which made her body stiffen. Now that she's been sleeping with Logan, though, it started to get worse with the stiffness around her body. Not that she minded, though. He was a really good friend, and it felt nice being next to him.

After finishing with her stretching, she began to move out. As she recalled, Blue had invited her to accompany her and Green for the day. From the way she acted yesterday, though, it seemed like was distressed from something she might have heard. Or it could have been something else. She could never understand these humans and their emotional changes.

She heard voices from the side and looked to see what it was. From the doorway, she saw Blue talking to Yellow while she was adjusting her straw hat and gave her a capsule of some sorts before they parted ways. She didn't know what the capsule contained, but from the way her face looked, it seemed like it was important. The older teen made her way over to Green, who was in a conversation with his grandfather while the younger girl made her way over to Red. While on the way, she opened the capsule that Blue had given her and shook something onto her hand before putting it in her mouth. The Vanguard knew right away that they were pills, but for what she wasn't sure.

She had a clear view of Yellow's appearance, too. She never noticed it last night since it was so dark, but now that it was broad daylight, she could now see just how awful she looked. Her skin was paler than that of a ghost and her clothes were put on rather sloppily. Her eyes were half open and her movements were sluggish with each step she took. Even her hair was a mess. It wasn't tied up or anything. It just fell right down to her waist underneath her straw hat.

She bumped into something hard and rubbed the part of her face where she hit. She mentally scolded herself for not paying attention to her surroundings and looked to see what sort of idiot would place something as hard as metal in the middle of nowhere.

She saw right away that that something turned out to be Alpha, who had now noticed her presence and turned around to face her.

"**Saria,"** He began, **"It would appear that you are doing what humans would call 'spacing out'. Otherwise you would've noticed me being here and not bump into me."**

He wasn't lying. Even Saria felt as though there was something wrong with her, like she was out of place. She shook her head and replied back to him with that formal tone of hers, "Forgive me, Alpha. My mind has been rather distant for the past few days." She felt her heart growing heavy as last night's events played in her head again. She needed to tell him one day, might as well be now. "Alpha, last night I was conversing with Yellow. It was about Logan and Nexus." She saw the ancient Guardian's optics widen a little bit before she continued, "I had no other choice. She had to know the truth. I saw it in her eyes. The desire to learn what was happening to her was eating her away and–"

"**I know."**

The answer came as a bit of a shock to Saria before Alpha explained it to her, **"Blue came to the lab yesterday, asking the same thing. From what she told me, Yellow has been suffering from nightmares for two nights now and received serious wounds, such as claw marks on her arm and a red bruise around her neck."**

"I had noticed those injuries, too." She chimed in, "No doubt that it is all Nexus' doing."

She heard him grunted underneath his voice box. **"Indeed. As a precaution, I gave Blue a medicine capsule to give to Yellow. It should be powerful enough to keep Nexus from corrupting her mind until we can figure out what to do." **He tapped the side of his metal head with a finger, lost in thought, **"If my hunch is correct, the only way for the Nexus fragment that is currently residing in Yellow's mind to disappear is if the actual one that is inside of Logan's mind is destroyed. At the moment, however, we do not possess the kind of power to transport all of us within him and destroy the amalgamation without causing some sort of permanent damage to the mind or killing him in the process. As much as I hate to admit it, it's all up to Logan to destroy Nexus if there is ever a chance to help Yellow."**

He heard Saria sighing sadly before seeing her drop her gaze. "I know. But that is something I am deeply worried about. The way Logan has been acting so far, plus the recent attacks that Nexus has done; it pains me to believe that Logan is slowly losing himself to the corruption that is occurring within his own mind. If this keeps up, then I fear that Logan will…" She didn't dare finish that sentence, even though Alpha already had an idea what she was about to say. It already hurt her enough knowing that her friend was slowly going insane by his own doing.

Alpha looked away from her, as if sharing the moment of sadness before placing his hand on her shoulder. When she felt his cold touch against her, she looked up to see that his optics were now both apologetic and serious. **"I know this will be hard for you to accept, but unless Logan finds a way to destroy Nexus, the only other way we have to save Yellow, as well as ourselves, would be to…"**

She slapped the hand away and looked at him with fury in her eyes, "No! I refuse to accept that! I will not let that happen to Logan! He helped us many times in the past! And now in the hour of his need where he needs _our_ help, we are to turn our backs on him and just end his suffering? That is exactly what Nexus wants! Have you not paid attention to what I had told you when I came across this information?!"

The robot had enough and quickly turned his whole body around, shouting out so loudly that it shocked the Vanguard completely, **"I KNOW!"** He noticed the tone he made as well as how wide Saria's eyes had gotten as a result of his shouting and quickly adjusted it. **"…I know. But it's the only option we have right now. If we can't come up with another strategy soon, then I'm afraid that's what we have to do, no matter how hard it is to do it."**

"I am his Guide! It is my duty to protect him from situations like these! That is what we have been told to do since the beginning of time! If anything were to happen to him, then it would feel as though I have failed in my duty!"

"**You aren't his 'Guardian Angel', Saria. You're a Guide, and Guides are only there to pass on the knowledge, powers, and survival to the next Warriors in line. Whether you like it or not, Logan will be put in situations where he may not survive. You can't protect him forever, kid."**

She didn't say anything to him and kept her gaze trained onto the ground. Her hands were balled up into fists and she bit her lower lip. She was too angry to say anything to the robot. After all the times that he taught Logan about their kind and their way of life, he would just abandon him as if he was nothing. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She stormed away from him, hands stilled balled up and head held low as she began to look for Blue.

It didn't take her long to find the trainer. She was standing next to Green looking at a device she had in her hand and darting her head around, as if she was waiting for someone. She quickened her pace and eventually joined up with them. Blue saw her coming and waved to her, but stopped midway when she noticed that her eyes were beginning to tear up.

"Is everything alright, Saria?" She asked.

The Vanguard was confused as to what she meant before she felt something trailing down her face. She brought her hand up to wipe it off and saw that it was a tear. She quickly wiped her eyes and tried to fake a smile, which proved harder than it looked. Sometimes she hated the fact that all Vanguards lacked a visible mouth. "I am alright. Now then, shall we part?" She looked at Green and saw that his name-coloured eyes had a serious gaze trained on her, as if he was trying to decipher her entire character and life with just one look. After a few moments, he shifted his gaze down the road that led out of Pallet Town and down Route 1.

Blue nodded her head to her and put the device in her bag, "Yep! Let's go!"

They took about a few steps towards the road before Saria stopped them, "Wait a moment," When she saw both trainers looking at her, she added, "Would it perhaps be alright if I have a friend accompany us? I wish to have somebody I know with us so I will not be cautious the whole time."

"Sounds like a good idea. Who did you have in mind?"

The Vanguard smiled and looked behind her, placing a hand close to her face and shouted, "Brennan!" The mentioned teen stopped his conversation with Leira and looked at her, waiting for her to continue, "Would you care to accompany us? We are going out for a walk, and I was wondering if you wished to come along?" He nodded his head in approval and waved goodbye to Leira before making his way over to him. Saria quickly remembered something and shouted again, "And do not forget your equipment! We are not sure what we might encounter, so it is best to come prepared!"

Brennan nodded his head and went over to the tent. Blue and Green exchanged confused glances with one another before Green spoke up, "What sort of 'equipment' did you mean?"

"You will see very soon."

Blue and Green exchanged another look with one another before Blue replied, "You guys are an odd bunch, you know that?"

Thinking as though it was meant to be a compliment, Saria smiled at her.

* * *

><p>More than fifteen minutes had gone by since the small group consisting of Blue, Green, Saria and Brennan had left Pallet Town, and in that amount of time Saria had explained bits and pieces of her people's history and culture to Blue, as promised. While he tried to not be interested, Green couldn't help but also listen in on the conversation.<p>

One of the things that Saria first talked about was their way of life and religion. The Vanguards are a very nomadic race that believes in peace and unification, as well as spiritual balance from within. She stated that their religion was very similar to Human Buddhism.

Another one that Saria told them was their society. Vanguards were one of the most advance races to ever exist, with a passion to build things from vast complex ships like the Oracle Wing to Guardian Drones such as Alpha. They also had a passion for nature, which she explained to them that their cities were a perfect merge of natural resources and advance technologies.

She then began to explain that there were many roles that each Vanguard had been given, but there were only two roles that were the most important and passed down each generation; Warrior and Guide. Warriors, such as Logan, were the most powerful of all Vanguards, with power that could rival that of a God. They had to release vast amounts of energy into the atmosphere so they wouldn't put themselves at risk. Guides, who were what Saria was, were different. Though they lacked the power that Warriors possess, they were gifted with amazing intelligence and knowledge of their entire race. They were chosen to be mentors to the Warriors so that they can prepare themselves for what they were destined for.

Blue listened intently as Saria continued to explain about the various plants and animals that lived on Valkeron, such as the Quarasion Spider, before Blue interrupted her. "Hold on a minute. I'm just curious about something."

"Of course. What is it you wish to ask?" Saria asked, a smile already formed on her face. She was so happy knowing that she was explaining the history of her people to a friend.

"Is it possible for a Warrior and Guide to ever get married, cause that would be really cool if they had kids that were both really powerful and smart?"

She noticed right away that she shouldn't have said that, for Saria remained silent and brought a closed hand up to her chest. Her eyes begin to water as she slowly shook her head, "I… I am afraid that that is not possible."

Blue looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about? Of course it is. They just have to be together and–"

"No, Blue. I mean that it is forbidden for that to happen."

All three of them became surprised at her response before Green asked her, "What do mean 'forbidden'?"

Saria remained silent for a few moments before she explained, "To my people, a Warrior and Guide are able to develop a close bond with one another similar to the bond that friends share, but it can never progress any further to that of intimacy. They are able to fall in love with others, but not with each other. It is a sacred law that has been with my people since the beginning of time. It is to ensure that a Guide's feelings will not get in the way of the Warrior's progress with his training and his mission. If they do, then they could face serious punishment."

"Are you serious?!" Blue shouted out, "Isn't that a little too harsh even for them?"

"I do not know. All I know is that it is forbidden for a Warrior and a Guide to ever fall in love with one another."

The female trainer decided to skip the subject and go on to something. She can easily tell that this was bothering Saria to no end. "Speaking of love, don't you find it strange that Amanda loves David? I mean, who would ever fall in love with a jerk like him? The guy has a heart as cold as ice."

"Normally I wouldn't talk about these kinds of things," Green began, "But you do have a point. Why would she ever be nice to someone who has treated her badly for so long?"

"He wasn't always so cold."

Both trainers looked at Saria as she continued, not noticing that Brennan was looking at the trees. "I do not know the exact details, but when he was eight, his parents were killed in a terrible car accident. He has been living with his uncle since then and spent all of his time trying to forget about them by making various inventions. As time went by, however, the lack of love from his parents, plus the amount of time he has isolated himself from everything, had slowly blackened his heart and caused him to become paranoid. Before that tragic event happened though, he and Amanda were friends with one another after Logan introduced him to her and Sol. He had developed a small crush on her as well. But ever since the tragedy, he has believed that those of higher wealth and power were responsible for his parent's deaths since they were killed by the hands of an arrogant rich human, who had bought his way to freedom by bribing the jury and the judge."

"That's explains why he doesn't like Amanda so much. He can't stand rich people because one of them killed his parents, and he thinks that they're all greedy." Blue said.

Green groaned underneath his breath, "That still doesn't explain about his rude behaviour lately. It's like he's becoming a cybernetic version of an Endless. Not just from his personality, but just from being near him. You know he's not watching you, but you _feel_ like he is. Watching your every move, waiting for you to make even the slightest mistake before he cuts you down."

The whole time that Blue and Green had conversed about David was the same amount for Saria's mind to drift off once again and recall a very recent memory that had happened just as she got up this morning.

* * *

><p><em>Flashback, Offworlders Tent, 8:13 AM, Normal POV…<em>

_Saria's eyes opened up to see the darkness inside of the tent. She yawned softly and climbed up, rubbing her eyes to remove the sleep that still lingered. She looked over at Logan, who was still lying beside her, and heard him breathing deeply in his sleep. She smiled at the sight and rubbed the back of her hand against his face. He looked so peaceful when he slept, like all of his worries and aggression simply washed away as soon as he closed his eyes._

_Something in the back of her mind told her that they were not alone, as she felt another's presence near them. Dark energy surged across her hand as she turned around and pointed it at whoever was there._

_Had she been human, she wouldn't have been able to see the large silhouette very clearly. But since she wasn't, her eyes pierced through the darkness and saw who the figure was._

"_Finally awake, are you? About damn time. I was starting to get a little bored." David spoke to her as though she was a prisoner. "So the truth finally reveals itself, I see. The others may have been wise to leave Logan alone to get some rest, but I know full well why you are here, Saria."_

_David moved himself away from the wall he was leaning on and stopped when he was about a couple feet away from the shared bed. From this close, she could see the cold, vengeful fire that burned in those optics of his. "What amazes me however is that you would go so far as to break a sacred rule that your people have had since the beginning of time just to be with _him_. Are you not Saria, who obeys and follows every rule and tradition of the Vanguards like the good and loyal canine that you are? Is it not forbidden for a Guide to fall in love with a Warrior?"_

_Something boiled inside of Saria as she glared at the cyborg. It came as no surprise that she didn't trust David. There was always something about him that set Saria on edge, something about him that the others don't know. It felt as though he was hiding something from them and was waiting for something big to happen before slipping into the shadows. What made it worse was that he was one of the few people who was actually immune to her Vanguard Vision. It was her greatest weapon against any she came across, a weapon that pierced all lies and deception. But because David had become a cyborg thanks to Ark, there was no way for her to tell what could possibly be going on in that madness driven mind of his._

_David saw the death glare that Saria was trying to give him and laughed. "Do you honestly think that that will work on me? Your threats and glares are merely amusing to me." He leaned his head forward until their faces were inches away from one another, "What do you think would happen if the other Vanguards onboard the Oracle Wing learned that the 'honest and truthful' Saria, the one that they look up to for guidance and inspiration, had broken one of their most important laws? Would they lose their faith in you and shun you? And what of the Vanguard Council? What would they do when they find out about this? Would they execute you where you stand, or would they banish you from the Oracle Wing and from all Vanguard civilization, forever doomed to be alone and never trusted again."_

_He saw her expression slacken as she began to realize with startling horror that he was right. He laughed once again and stood up straight again, "No matter what you do for him, or how nice you treat him, you can never be loved by him. Let me tell you a little secret, Saria. You have been protecting Logan since the day you came, keeping his anger from taking control of him or harming the others. But now that Logan is beginning to slip, it is only a matter of time before he loses control completely and even you will not be able to stop him. When that time comes, I will be the one to make sure that he is put down. _Permanently_. So until then, take care, Saria, and continue your foolish attempts to protect him, because the time when Logan loses control once more will be the time where you finally realize how much of a fool you have been."_

_And with that, David left the tent, more likely going off to experiment on something, leaving Saria all alone with Logan. When she saw him vanish, she released her breath after holding it in for so long and shook. She felt the strength leaving her body and clutched her chest. Her heart was pounding so hard, it hurt with every beat. There has not been a time where she had not been afraid of him._

* * *

><p>"Hey Saria!" Blue's voice piqued beside the mentioned Vanguard's left eardrum.<p>

Saria jolted awake from her thoughts and looked at her with widen eyes. "Wh-What?" She stammered, still slightly shaken from the shout.

"I was asking you what you thought about David. We already discussed that he's a big jerk, but we want to know what your thoughts were."

She felt a sense of honesty kicking in. Perhaps it was time to tell them the truth once again. "I do not trust him. Ever since the day I first met him, I have been feeling this dark presence animating from him. It is as though he is hiding something from us."

"That makes two of us." Green agreed for the first time.

Blue began to feel the sudden tension in the air between them and spoke up rather loudly, "Hey guys! We're almost at Pewter City, so how about we go grab some of the things there before heading off for Cerulean?"

Both Saria and Brennan exchanged glances with one another before nodding their heads at her, while Green muttered 'Pesky Girl' underneath his breath.

"All right! It's settled then! Let's go!"

* * *

><p><em>Pewter City, 1:57 PM, Normal POV<em>_…_

Much time had passed since the group had entered Pewter City and gathered up the things they needed from the market. It would have taken a lot _less _time had they not been challenged by a few trainers along the way and in town, and Green meeting up with Brock to discuss the situation and if anything happened.

Blue held her handbag along with a few others containing Pokémon food and various tools, most likely for another one of her schemes. Green had a few bags in his hand as well, but had one of them over his shoulder, while Brennan had the last few in his hands.

Saria didn't have anything on her besides the stuff she already brought, but she couldn't help but feel left out since she wasn't contributing. She let out a sigh as her mind wandered back into her thoughts, recalling the words that David had said to her this morning. Why would he ever think that she was in love with Logan? It always bothered her that people automatically assumed that they were both in love. Just because they were the only two Vanguards on the team going to different worlds and saving all of life from eternal darkness doesn't automatically make them a couple!

Although, now that she put more thought into the subject, she did recall a few dreams that she had about him; how she would let him wrap his strong arms around her body and embrace her with the warmth of the sun, or how they would go cliffs and beaches to see the sunset, and then sleeping in each other's arms…

She blushed a deep scarlet and frantically shook her head. _What is wrong with me? _She thought out loud, _I never have these kinds of thoughts before. Why are they occurring now?_ Saria began to grow terrified that her emotions were starting to get a little out of hand. It wasn't common for Vanguards to lose control over their own emotions and say or do things they didn't mean to. She had seen it happen a few times before. She was just surprised that it was happening to her now.

Saria looked around her surroundings and realized that she was now at another store. She must have somehow followed Blue in subconsciously while she was deep in her thoughts. While she was satisfied at the fact that she didn't get lost as a result of her deep thinking, she was not in the mood to look at anymore clothes or whatever objects human girls were obsessed over.

Saria tapped Blue on the shoulder and told her that she'd be where the books were if she needed her and proceeded her way there. The shelves that contained the books were on the far most right side of the store, which was odd but also convenient, since she was desperate for a place to calm her mind from her previous thoughts.

She cupped a hand on her chin and observed each book with curious eyes. Most of the books talked about Pokémon in some way, but for the moment she was not interested in learning more about the fascinating creatures. She stopped when she saw a red coloured book labelled _"The Hearts That Weave Together" _and began to read the first page. Her luminescent eyes skimmed each sentence with careful precision as she turned to the next page a few seconds after starting it. She repeated the process again and again, reading more and more of the book as the words were like a neon coloured sign in her head.

She was so into the book that she didn't notice the cloak figure walking up to her, his entire face hidden by the hood except for the two crimson eyes that glowed behind the goggles of his mask. He slowly walked up to her, making sure to not make any noise, and leaned his head forward close enough until he was right next to her ear. When he spoke, his voice carried a slick yet intellectual tone that was enough to send a shiver along Saria's spine.

"Well, if it isn't the lovely Miss Saria." She froze in place and stared at the shelf with widen eyes. "It's been a while since we last met. How have you've been?"

Saria let the book fall to the ground and turned 180 degrees to face the figure. She couldn't see his face or most of his body, since it was covered by the black cloak, but she could see his bandaged arms wrapped in chains, as well as his bandaged legs and feet. He lacked footwear, and he sported dark bluish-grey jeans with a black belt holding it up. His stomach was thinner than Logan's, but he was still as built and tall as him. And it made her terrified of him even more.

_What is _HE _doing here?! _She mentally screamed in her head.

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile…<em>

The entrance to Professor Oak's lab opened up and Red and Yellow stepped in, the former holding onto his friend as she half stumbled upon the way in. He set her down on the chair near one of the monitors and knelt down in front of her, looking her at eye level. He placed his hand against her forehead to check her temperature, but was surprised to feel her hand grabbing his and carefully moving it away from her.

"No… It's okay… Red. I'm… I'm fine." She said rather weakly. It sounded almost too painful for him to listen to.

He shook his head and moved his hand around so that he could hold onto hers properly, "Yellow, you're not fine. You collapsed just a minute ago, and you're already as cold as ice. You're sick. You need to rest for a bit."

Yellow didn't say anything to him as a massive blush instantly appeared across her face. His hand was letting out so much warmth against her cold hand it felt like she would evaporate if it was any warmer. All she could do, at the moment, was nod her head at him and place her hat on the table.

Seeing his friend do that, Red got up and made his way over to the cabinets, "I'm sure Prof. Oak has something here to help with whatever's making you sick. Stay put while I go find it. I'll even go make some soup for you. You look like you could use something to eat right about now."

She smiled at him softly and nodded her head once more, "Thank you… Red."

He returned the smile with his own and tipped his cap before leaving the room and into what he guessed was the kitchen.

Yellow could barely think straight as her heart raced inside of her chest. Red was so nice to her, it almost made her laugh. She had never seen him so worried about her before. There had been times before where he was worried about her safety, but this was nothing similar to those other times. It was cute, though, seeing him do so much for her. She felt as though her fantasies were coming to life, only it wasn't the way she expected. She didn't mind it. As long as she was spending time alone with Red, then the day would be perfect.

A mail icon flashed on the monitor and beeped loudly, driving her out of her mild day fantasies. She looked at the message that was underneath the mail icon and saw the name of someone she knew very well. She grabbed the mouse eagerly and clicked the icon, seeing that it was a video feed and saw her friend's face on the other end.

The girl on the other end was younger than her by a year, but looked as though she might have been older, and was visible from the waist up. Her dark blue hair went off into two pigtails that seemed to defy gravity and the front bangs shielded her eyes about halfway. The pigtails were tied down by two red bands and a yellow toque covered the rest of her hair. She had on a red t-shirt underneath a pinkish-white coloured jacket with red bands going round the wrists. A star shaped earring was hanging from her right ear, and a pink coloured watch was around her right wrist. Her light blue eyes were half open and there were bags underneath them, hinting that she had been awake for at least a few days.

"Blue. Blue. Are you there?" The girl asked, almost all at once and choked up.

Yellow stared at her in confusion, "Crystal? No, it's me, Yellow."

The older girl realized her mistake and corrected herself, "Oh… um, sorry Yellow. I thought you were Blue." Crystal brought a hand up to her eyes and rubbed them while letting out a long yawn, "My eyes are still a little messed up from reading so many books, so I apologize for the mix up."

Yellow smiled at her, "That's okay. It's good to hear from you, though. How's everything going?"

"Swell. I'll be honest, I've never been more tired in my life."

Red's voice called out from the other room, "Who are you talking to, Yellow?"

She looked from the monitor for a moment and shouted at him, "It's Crystal! She's on the video cam!"

Footsteps moved closer to her at rapid speed and Red soon joined her side. He looked at the monitor and saw Crystal's half awake on the other end. He waved a hand to her, "Hey, Crystal! It's been a while! How are you and the others doing after saving us from Guile Hideout?"

Crystal frowned as she made note of their condition, "Better than what's happening to you two. What happened to you Yellow? You look as though you were attacked by some wild Pokémon?"

The smaller girl sighed deeply before responding, "The past few days have been really gruelling for us."

Red noticed how uncomfortable things were and decided to change the subject, "So, what's going on? It isn't like you to just randomly call Professor Oak like that."

"That's because I was trying to call Blue." She replied, "Since the Professor's monitor has better connection than her PokéNav, I thought about calling her from there."

"Sorry, Crys. She and Green left Pallet Town almost an hour ago with Saria and Brennan to pick up a few things." He noticed how desperate Crystal's voice was and asked, "What do you need to talk to her about?"

Crystal hesitated as she tried to come up with a viable excuse. She didn't like lying, as it was wrong to do in the first place, but it seemed like whatever she'd come up with the others would know that she's lying. She wasn't that good of a liar as Gold or Silver were. She was always serious about something, whether it was catching Pokémon for Professor Oak or just in general. Plus, it felt wrong for her to keep the others in the dark, so she decided to tell them the truth, "Well… see… I – I mean _we_ – were told by Blue a few days ago to see if we can find anything on our end on something called 'The Endless'."

Red stopped her for a moment when he noticed what she said, "_We_? Who else is with you?"

As soon as he said that, a boy popped up beside Crystal wearing black and yellow clothing. He had a cap on his black hair like Red, only it was in reverse, and he had an even bigger smile than Brady's on his face. He wrapped an arm around Crystal and held up two fingers on his other hand to the monitor, "Hey, Sensei! How's everything going over there?" The boy shouted loudly, causing Crystal to cover her ears in response as well as push him off of her.

The older boy immediately recognized him and replied back, "Gold! Great to see you! Everything's going well! What about you?"

"Great! The past few weeks have been a bit of a snooze lately, but I've had the time to hang out with Super Serious Gal and Silver! Speaking of which," He grabbed the monitor and turned it around so that Red and Yellow could see where Silver currently was. They say him sitting atop a stool with a book in his hand surrounded by hundreds of others. They heard Gold's voice shouting out again, this time at the red haired boy, "Silver! It's Red and Yellow! Say hi to them!"

The expressionless teen looked up from the book to give out a momentary glance at their two friends on the other end before looking back at the book. No emotion was shown on his face, but he uttered out a single word in that calm tone of his, "Hey."

Yellow could hear Gold groaning at his friend and telling him to respond a bit more cheery before deciding to get back on the main topic, "So, Crystal? What did you find?"

They saw the monitor return back to its position as well as Crystal pushing Gold off her seat again before speaking, "Right, well… To be honest, when Blue called us to look up on these things, I had my suspicions. She's really crafty and always up to something, but Silver believed in her and convinced us to help out. We weren't really all that focused on it since we didn't know if it was some sort of prank, but then we saw what happened… at Celadon City."

Silence blocked out all sounds coming from both ends at the mention of the city. Both Red and Yellow couldn't help but shake a little bit as memories of the horrible creatures they fought raced across their mind.

"It was all over the news… We couldn't believe what we saw… Those things… they were destroying everything. We've never seen anything like them before. And those people who were helping you guys, especially the one who fought against all those things single-handedly… I've never seen anyone with powers like those. Not even a Pokémon." She had her hand covering her face as the event continued to repeat in her mind, as well as the horrific screaming from that one person that the news camera managed to catch on tape, "After what happened, we've been putting all our time and attention looking through these books and trying to find something on the internet."

"What did you find?" Red repeated Yellow's previous question.

"Not a lot, unfortunately," She replied sadly, "All we know is that 5,000 years ago, Kanto and all the neighbouring regions were plunged in what people back then called _'The Sea of Darkness'_. They were attacked by the same creatures that are here right now. There was nothing on our end that we found that could tell us what happened next, but we did manage to find something else, thanks to Blue." Her hands soon became a blue as she typed on the keyboard and sent an image to their end, "Does this remind you of something?"

The photo itself looked like a grim styled painting, but the symbol marked in blood was all too familiar to them. Red was the first to point it out, "I know that symbol… That's the Mark of the Endless!"

Crystal nodded her head in agreement, "We found that symbol in one of the books. It said that some people found it marked in someone's blood on a wall, along with a message that said _'Beware…'_"

"Was there anything else that you found?"

"Just one," Silver said as he came closer to the monitor with another book in his hand, "All those Endless that attacked Kanto back then suddenly vanished without a trace. We searched every book we could get our hands on and only one of them seems to give us any more information. Apparently, they say that an armoured warrior from the stars was responsible for their disappearance.

"An armoured warrior?" Yellow asked her as her curiosity grew even more.

Gold soon butted in just as Crystal was about to say something, "That's right! An armoured warrior from outer space! I find that hard to believe myself, in my opinion." He was pushed away from the monitor by Crystal, who looked like she was about to kick him pretty soon.

"Did he at least leave something behind?" Red asked them, "It doesn't seem right for him to just disappear like that without leaving some sort of evidence that he was there."

All three of the Johto trainers shook their heads. Red lifted his cap and buried his hand in his hair, while Yellow looked down at her lap. Things never seemed to be easy for them.

* * *

><p>Saria starred at the cloaked figure, half shocked and half angered at his presence. She couldn't see his face because of that goggled mask he wore, but she could tell that he had his trademark smug behind it. Her mind became a raging tempest as she tried to sort through all her thoughts. What is he doing here? What is he up to? Is he alone, or did he bring more Endless with him? Was he here to try and kill Logan again?<p>

That last thought sent a surge of anger throughout her body, prompting her to summon her weapon. She would have to kill him before he would ever have the chance. Darkness circled around her hand as the blade appeared between them…

The mysterious figure shot a hand forward and gripped tightly around the young Vanguard's wrist, making her lose her concentration. The weapon vanished instantly and returned to her hand. She looked at the figure fearfully as he leaned his head close to about breathing distance from her face.

"Ah, ah, ah. None of that now."

She yanked her hand free from his grasp and strengthened her glare at him. Whatever his intentions were for being here, she was determined to find out, "Why are you here?" She asked slowly and threateningly.

The figure cupped a hand underneath his head and hummed, "That's a good question, Saria. Why am I here? Perhaps I came here to finally deal with your 'boyfriend' and prove that I am the strongest one of all?"

Saria immediately took action and summoned her weapon again, this time without any interruptions, and aimed to slice the figure's head off his neck. The blade came about a foot distance away before he said something that made her stop. It was now kissing the fabric of the cloak where the neck was, and no further.

She looked at him in confusion as she tried to sort out what he just said, "What did you just say?"

The figure grinned behind his mask and repeated, "I said, 'Or perhaps I came here because I was curious about this world'."

The Vanguard didn't buy it and kept the blade where it was, "You are lying. What could it be about this world that you are so fascinated about other than the abundance of life that is on it?"

"The bonds between Humans and Pokémon being one of them."

She kept the blade where it was for a few more moments before she slowly moved it away from him. She stopped when it was an inch further than it was before, expecting him to make any attempts to attack her. When she saw that he wasn't doing anything, she moved it away from him entirely and held it by her side.

He put his arms behind him and held his hands together, walking around her as he did so, "I've been rather curious about the strange bond that Humans and Pokémon share with one another. Here you have some of the most powerful creatures ever created, and the only way for them to fully tap into their powers is with the help and guidance of a human. It leaves you to wonder if the being that created this world intended for this to happen in order to unite two separate races as an ever bigger one."

"Is that the only reason as to why you are here?" Saria snarled at him. She wasn't in the mood to listen to this psycho's words.

"Not exactly." He stopped as soon as he said that in front of her and leaned his head so close she could see the faint outline of his eyes behind the mask. She gripped the weapon even tighter until her knuckles began to turn white. As soon as he spoke again, it made her shiver in fear slightly, "I came here to pass on a little warning."

"If you are considering yourself as that warning, then I can fully agree."

"Funny, because I was never referring to myself in the first place, even though that is half-true." She tensed up slightly upon hearing his response and continued, "You've noticed the events that have happened lately, the sudden increase of attacks from the Endless, haven't you?"

Saria took a step forward, forcing him to take a step back so he wouldn't get hit, "If you are behind the attacks, then I swear in the name of the Twin Gods of Valkeron that I–"

"–will kill me without hesitation." He interrupted her, "Yes, I'm well aware. You've said that already a few times before." He saw her straightening herself up even more and smirked to himself. He loved interrupting her. It irritated her to no end, and it was so much fun to tease her around. "I'm just informing you that the Endless have been getting more relentless lately, and their numbers are spreading rapidly. Whatever it is that you guys plan to do about this, you might want to consider hurrying it up, because there may not be a region left for you to save within a few days."

"Why are you telling me all of this? You are the enemy."

"I may be a villain, but that doesn't mean I can't be helpful at times. Speaking of being helpful…" He opened his hand in front of him and a mass of darkness began to erupt from his palm. The darkness slowly flowed away and soon a silver-grey shape appeared in his hand. It looked like a journal, but it was far too advanced to be one with the way the lines seemed to glow in a radiant blue light. He held it in front of him and pointed the other end to her, waving it slightly as he did. "I believe this book might be more useful than that romance rubbish you were reading earlier."

The air suddenly grew thick as Saria's mind began to think through all the possible outcomes that the figure might do if she did take it or didn't. Some of them she practically shivered at them because she knew that only he would be capable of doing such things. She shifted her glance between him and the object a few times, unsure as to what she should do.

The figure sensed her mild dilemma and groaned loudly, "Look, I'm putting myself at risk with the Brotherhood by giving you something that can give you the edge you need to fight them. The least you can do is take it off my hand before the Brotherhood does." She didn't bother looking up at him, but now her gaze was entirely fixated on the object. He rolled his eyes and continued, "Are you going to make a decision already, or are you going to take all day? I have far more important things to do then stand still and do nothing."

She looked between him and the object once more before keeping her gaze on him. Her mind had now made a decision.

"If it truly is as important as you say, then will you promise to not harm Logan by any means until we leave this world?" She asked him with a commanding voice.

"I am a _shadow_ of my word, Saria. You should know that by now." The figure sneered at her.

Seeing that there was no other way out of this, she took the object from his hand and looked at the cover of it. It was dusty all over, but she cleared most of it by blowing it and then using her free hand to wipe the rest away. Her eyes scanned the cover as she tried to decipher what it could possibly be. A sharp gasp was drawn out of her mouth as she recognized the symbol that was on the center of the object.

"This… this is a Data Journal… made from Valkeron. There is no mistaking it. The design, the technology, it has to be…" She looked up at the figure with startled eyes upon learning of the discovery, "How did you obtain it? I thought they were all destroyed when Valkeron fell to the darkness."

The figure dug one hand into his cloak pocket and waved the other one in a gentleman-like manner, "You know as well as I do that I don't reveal my secrets to anyone, especially to the Brotherhood. Go ahead, open the journal to the first page and see who it belongs to. I think you'll like what you'll see."

She did just that and activated the journal. A blue light shined from the symbol and the book soon opened up. She looked in and saw that the writing was in Vanguard, and was very well written from the looks of it. She flipped the pages until she was now on the very first page and read the name of the person that this journal belonged to. She read it several more times, not believing it no matter how many times she read it:

_Vitaru Ryusaki_

Her eyes were now completely wide with astonishment as she stared at the name, "Th-This is… But how… I thought it was lost when Vitaru… How did you find–" She looked up to see the figure's face, only to find him missing. She looked around to see where he might have gone off to, but had no luck. He just vanished out of thin air.

_Where did he… Why do I ask such questions when I already know the answer to them? _She glanced down at the journal and had what was perhaps the biggest smile on her face. _I cannot believe it. I-I must go and inform the others at once! _She looked back at the last spot that the figure was at and felt something warm in her heart. _I never thought I would say this, but thank you… Sin. You may have just given us the advantage we need._

With that thought in mind and book in hand, she immediately ran to where Blue was.


	19. The Journal

**(A/N: Once again I find that it has taken me a little longer to go over the next chapter and then submit it. Sorry about that guys. The past week has been brutal with CPTs and I am not a big fan of them. So I was realy stressed out and because of that, I wasn't able to submit this for the past two weeks.**

**But now that I am almost done with this semester, I've finally found the time to submit this chapter onto here. I will admit that this may seem a bit weird the way it's written, but then again it's just me criticizing myself really badly. With Chapter 18 out of the way, that means that this story is more than halfway done. I believe that there may be around 9 or 10 chapters left and then I can officially consider this story done. So I hope you guys look forward to reading them.)**

**~ Neoshadow-574/Shadow-War**

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 18: The Journal<span>**

_Somewhere…_

Water… the universal symbol of patience. Unlike fire, where it was passionate, uncontrollable, and rapid, water was the very opposite; calm, wise and able to adapt to its surroundings. It is essential for life to flourish into its purest form… but it also has the power to take that life away with a snap of a finger. Those who sit still and listen to the ocean waves in their gentlest form can sometimes hear those who have once been there, or from far away carried by its winds. It is able to ease one's soul and heal one's wounds.

Such it was to the vast assortment of Water Pokémon that lived in the lake. As creatures that have been born within the safe boundaries of water, they knew full well the capabilities that water possessed when given a chance.

Yet that was also true to another, whose eyes glowed in purest white that pierced the dark mists beneath within the murky waters. Pokémon that have spotted the twin eyes either swam off in fear that it was a predator, or swam closer to it in curiosity, only to feel a presence so powerful that they have no choice but to run away in fear.

_-The hour grows near, my friend,-_ The being said, his deep and enchanting voice echoing all across the water, _-Soon, the chosen Vanguard will come and he shall be judged as foretold. Only then will we know if he is ready.-_

A low growling sound was heard right near him, followed up by a pair of solid yellow eyes that glowed just as bright as the beings. Its voice sounded much similar to that of a wolf, and therefore impossible to translate through human ears. But to the being, who had known his ally since the very beginning, he knew exactly what it was saying.

_-Yes, I have also been rather concerned about that.-_ The being stated,_ -We do not know how things will turn out, only when and where they will take place. For now, let us wait like the calming waters around us for destiny to come.-_

The creature growled again, this time at a softer tone before the murky depths grew silent once more. The two pair of lights dimmed down till they were now casting a faint glow. To any Pokémon close by, they could have sworn that the powerful presence suddenly grew more powerful.

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile, at Pallet Town…<em>

"Are you sure that that was all you could find?" Red finally asked Crystal. When it came to research, Crystal did it down to the core. She would search up dozens of sites, hundreds of books, even read the latest tabloids on anything she needed to know more about. The fact that information revolving around the Endless, which he admitted there may not have been that much to begin with, was limited to only a book and a few messages was both suspicious and unnerving.

Crystal massaged her forehead as the need for sleep started to catch up to her and groaned, "Trust me Red, if we had found anything else, we would have already told you by now." She yawned out loud, which Gold and Silver soon responded with one of their own.

"That can't be it, though. There has to be more! What about that warrior? Did you find anything on him?"

All three of them shook their heads no.

_Well that answers much._ Red thought as he removed his cap and scratched the top of his head. Yellow, meanwhile, was twirling a finger around her hair as the grim information made her feel just as mortified and nervous as the nightmares did.

"We'll try to find some more if we can, but for the moment that's all we could find." Crystal said.

Yellow nodded her head slowly to her in agreement, "Alright. Call us if you find anything else."

The Catcher nodded before she disconnected the video feed from her end, the monitor resorted back to the desktop.

Red shook his head as he began to walk around, "It's not like Crystal to find so little info. These things are a lot more difficult to find out than we thought."

Yellow could sense his confusion and turned around to face him, "Maybe we can ask Saria when she gets back. She knows a lot more about them then we do."

"Maybe, but she's still out with Green and Blue. It'll take a while before they come back."

"Right…"

The room fell silent once more before a loud beeping noise was heard from the other room. Red looked to where the noise was coming from and realized what it was, "That must be your soup. It'll take a while for it to cool down, so I'll have Poli do it for you."

"Thanks Red."

She watched him disappear into the other room and looked back at the monitor, her mind still clouded with what she heard. She still couldn't believe that these monsters actually came to Kanto several thousand years ago, and that only one _single_ being had defeated them all. She wasn't sure if it was actually a warrior from outer space who stopped them, or maybe a super powerful Pokémon, but they both sounded crazy enough f they fought against those things. Either way, the fact that they had returned to finish what they started was enough to cause her whole body to freeze up in fear.

She felt a vibration coming from her right pocket and dug her hand in to pull out her PokéNav. She remembered that Blue had bought it for her so that it would be easier for her to communicate with the others if she ever needed to. Yellow looked at the number, seeing that it was not identical to any one of her friend's and cautiously placed it against her ear.

"Hello?" She asked, her voice trying to remain calm as she waited for the person on the other end to respond.

There was no response from the other end, which immediately made her worry. All she could hear was what sounded like deep breathing. Her eyes grew wide in horror as her mind made a mental image of the only person she knew that would ever make that sound. While she wasn't sure if it truly was him, she spoke up nonetheless, trying to be polite while hiding her fear, "I'm sorry, but whoever this is I'm hanging up now."

She was just about to remove the PokéNav from her ear before a voice spoke up from the other end, _"Amarillo Del Bosque Verde, otherwise known as Yellow of The Viridian Forest, also known as Yellow Caballero, and simply known as Yellow. Is this accurate?"_

She froze upon hearing what she recognized as a male in his youth years on the other end. _His voice… It can't be…_ Her mind repeated the same sentence over and over again as the voice remained quiet, most likely waiting for her to answer. She opened her mouth slowly, struggling to form the words until she managed to do so, "H-How did you–?"

_"I know many things about you and your friends. You might say that I've been keeping an eye on you for some time."_ The voice replied, _"I especially know of the place where you love to go to in the Viridian Forest and the title that you've been given by Professor Oak. 'The Healer' seems to be a very appropriate title for someone with your talents."_

To say that Yellow was terrified was an understatement. How can anyone remain calm when a complete stranger called you by your full name? She shook her head, trying to get rid of her fright, and tried to keep a stern tone in her voice as she spoke, though she failed miserably in doing so, "Who is this?"

_"My name is of no importance at the moment, but the information I am about to give to you is." _The voice replied, _"You are familiar with the Endless, are you?"_

"Y-Yes…"

_"Then it is best for me to inform you that their numbers have been getting more frequent and their attacks more ruthless than before. Yet so far none of your friends from the other cities have been able to figure out where they're hiding."_

Her eyes widen upon hearing this, "Wh-What are you getting at?"

A sound similar to that of a chuckle was heard from the other end. It sounded so maniacal. _"What I'm saying is that your world is slowly running out of time, and unless you wish to save it from such a fate, then I strongly suggest that you figure out a way to stop the Endless before it's too late."_

"How? I don't even know where they could–"

_"Seek out Saria when she returns. She will more than likely possess the information you need, courtesy of the little 'gift' I left her with."_ Yellow was just about to say something else before the man continued, _"I've revealed all that I could. I leave the rest up to you, Yellow Caballero."_

Before she knew it, the man hung up, leaving the PokéNav ringing endlessly against her ear. She removed it from her ear and turned it off, a look of shock all over her face.

Part of her was tempted to run to Red and tell him what the man had told her, but the other part told her to remain calm while she tried to think of some more logical choices other than panicking. If what he said is true, then speaking to Saria was the best course of action. But there was still that nagging feeling of telling Red what happened. She had no idea what to do.

Red came in at that moment with a warm bowl of soup in his hands, looking at her with a confused look in his face. "Who were you talking to, Yellow?" He asked her.

From his perspective, he could see a sad look on her face and that familiar look in her eyes. He knew full well what it meant, and it could only mean one thing…

…Trouble.

* * *

><p><em>Pewter City, 2:06 PM, Normal POV…<em>

"Let me get this straight," Blue began as Saria finished explaining to her what happened, "Some masked guy who is one of your enemies and working with the same group that the Endless are a part of came to you from out of the blue, gave you a journal belonging to some guy who's been dead for thousands of years, and then just disappeared without a trace?"

"Yes," was Saria's only reply.

The two of them had spent the last five minutes talking to one another outside the store after Saria told her about her encounter with Sin and receiving Vitaru's journal from him. She had to explain to the female trainer who Sin was. When she saw Blue's face growing more serious upon hearing this, she knew what was about to happen.

"No. Let me repeat myself: This is the same Sin guy who has been causing you and Logan problems since you first met him three months ago?"

"Yes."

"And he is very dangerous and insane?"

"Yes."

"And his sole purpose is to defeat Logan and prove that he is the strongest one?"

"Yes."

Throughout the whole conversation, Green and Brennan stood at the side switching their gazes between the two. A few times they wanted to speak up, but they chose not to. They knew from past experience there was no point in stopping their friends once they started talking.

Blue furrowed her brow as she crossed her arms, "Am I the only one who seems to think that this is not only messed up, but can also be a trap?"

Saria sighed heavily upon hearing her say that. Her hunch turned out to be correct. "I will agree with you that this may seem out of character for someone with such a devious history, especially one like Sin. But I have scanned some of the pages in the journal before coming to you, and I know without a doubt that this is the very same journal that belonged to the previous Warrior before Logan, Vitaru Ryusaki." She glanced down at the book with a small smile before she continued, "Everything that is written here is exactly how it happened during the Great War. Something like this is, as you Humans would say, a rare find."

"So what do we do with it?" She asked her.

Saria held the journal with one hand and used the other to point to the path that led to Viridian City, "We return to Pallet Town. Alpha must be informed about this, and I have a feeling that there may be something within this journal that could be of help to us."

Blue shook her head as she pulled out the Pokéball that contained her Wigglytuff, "So I take it the shopping trip is over?"

The Vanguard nodded her head sadly, "I am truly sorry, Blue. I know that you were expecting to learn more about my people, but this is very important."

"I know, I know." She peered over to Green and Brennan and noticed the number of bags that they were carrying, along with some of her own. "It'll take us some time to get back with all these bags, though, even with our Pokémon."

"…Perhaps, there is."

Blue didn't have the chance to ask as Saria quickly ran over to Brennan's side and pointed at a patch of earth in front of them. She whispered something in his ear, of what she wasn't sure. But she swore that for a moment, she saw a smile flash on the Vanguard's face.

When she finished speaking to him, he nodded his head and placed the bags down carefully. He then proceeded to the earth that Saria had pointed at. His hands reached over to the two large bags on the sides, pressing on the buttons that were there, then proceeded to do the same thing to the larger one strapped on his back. They hissed and slid open, letting loose several beeps as they did.

He lifted his hands up while the stone bands he wore around his wrists began to glow. The three packs began to shake heavily in response. Before either Blue or Green could tell what was going on, a flurry of rocks flew out and hovered above Brennan. He moved his hands around, forming different shapes and gestures. In response, the rocks flowed through the air and began to merge one by one. Within moments, the mass of rocks had formed into a flat island big enough to hold a Pokémon Center. He smiled at his handiwork before he bent down to grab the bags and jumped up in the air, landing perfectly on top of it.

The two trainers watched the whole thing in astonishment with jaws wide open. Their minds were currently trying to rack through their thoughts at what they had just witnessed. They shifted their gaze back to Saria, who was smiling widely at her friend before she looked back at them and grabbed the remaining bags.

"Well, no sense in staying here all day. Let us go and rejoin with our friends." She reached up to Brennan and gave him the bags before she jumped up to join him on the island.

Seeing in no point in arguing, both trainers climbed up on the floating rock and waited for something to happen.

Gripping tightly on a pair of stone handles that Brennan had made, Saria leaned her head closer to them and whispered loud enough for them to hear, "You may want to hold onto something, just to be safe." She quickly looked back at Brennan and winked at him, telling him to get ready. He returned the wink and set several stone blocks around the bags to keep them from flying off and more stone handles in front of Blue and Green.

Blue raised an eyebrow to her as she felt the earth beneath her slowly rising, "What in Arceus' name are you talking a-BOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUT!"

She screamed out the last part as the island suddenly rocketed up into the air and jetted across the sky. The two trainers barely had enough time to grab onto the handles so they wouldn't fly off. Instinctively, they also wrapped one arm around each other for extra measure. They felt the wind rushing through their hair, growing colder with each passing second, and gravity pushing down on them the higher they went. Neither wanted to open their eyes to see where they were going, nor did they want to let go. All they could do was listen to the rushing winds and the sounds of the wild bird Pokémon that flew by them.

Saria looked back at them and smiled before looking back ahead of her. A flock of Pidgeys were flying by and glancing over to them, suddenly confused as to why there was a giant rock flying beside them.

Feeling slightly adventurous, she stretched one of her hands out and felt the wind brushing between her fingers. She let out an excited chuckle before moving it back to the handle. _I rarely get to experience this kind of enjoyment._ She thought as the island flew past Viridian City and headed straight for Pallet Town._ Perhaps it is a sign that things are finally beginning to turn over in our favour._

That last thought somehow managed a smile on her face.

* * *

><p>It took even less time for them to get to Pallet Town than on their Pokémon, which Saria could guess Green and Blue were thankful that it was over. Yet their landing could have gone a little better had it not been for Brady, who was shouting at them for almost crushing him with the island. Red and Yellow both exited the lab to see what was going on to see their friends hopping off from the rock. Blue took a little longer than the others, since she was still shaking from the takeoff, but a bit of convincing from Green's end managed to get her off.<p>

Once Brennan finished and moved the pieces back into the bags, everyone told one another what happened while they were gone. Red and Yellow started by saying that Crystal had called and told them that the Endless had once been in Kanto 5,000 years ago, but disappeared soon after a mysterious warrior from outer space appeared. Saria continued on for them by saying that the warrior was Vitaru Ryusaki, a legendary Vanguard Warrior who defeated the Dark Lord and ended the Great War. She proved it by showing them his journal, which was given to her by Sin. While she didn't recognize who that was, Yellow told her that someone called her and said that he gave Saria something before hanging up, hinting that it was perhaps Sin.

After a few minutes went by of what they should do, Saria told them that she'll look through Vitaru's journal to learn anything else about his arrival to Kanto and come back if she has found anything useful. With no other options in mind, they agreed with her and continued on with what they had been doing earlier.

Saria had managed to find Alpha easily within the first minute after the meeting, since he was close to the edge of the forest scanning the trees. She had told him about the journal, to which he took a quick look through it and told her that it was the real thing since he recognized Vitaru's handwriting anywhere. He even surprised her when he told her that she could translate the text. Usually when it came to ancient Vanguard text, Alpha was always the one to decipher them, but for him to allow Saria the chance to do so was certainly a privilege. She bowed to him respectfully and told him that she will do her best.

Logan, on the other hand, was nowhere in sight, leading her to question where he might have gone to. Maybe he went out of town to go for a walk, or was somewhere close by, she couldn't possibly tell. Feeling that he might return later on, she headed for the tent and started searching through the journal.

* * *

><p><em>Offworlder's Tent, 2:43 PM, Normal POV…<em>

Saria reached down again to rub Leira on the head, who was playing with a set of blocks with Cuby and Poochy in front of her, while Absy and Deo were resting nearby. Currently, she was sitting on the bed she shared with Logan, looking over each and every page to try and find what she was looking for. For something so small, there was definitely a ton of writing in it. Not that she complained. She just wished that the text wasn't so hard to translate. The writing was very ancient compared to how she wrote, so it proved to be a little difficult to decipher what some of the words were.

She felt the communicator in her pocket ringing and pulled it out, holding it out in front of her. There was no image that appeared, but a faint line that took its place. "Hello?" She said.

_"I take it from the way your voice sounds that you're looking through the journal?"_ The line began to move in sync with the voice.

She recognized that voice anywhere, "Sin. Why am I not surprised?"

_"I ask that question every day myself, Saria, given how limited your knowledge on Humans is."_ He said to her insultingly,_ "How do you like the gift, though? Was it truly what you have expected it to be?"_

Saria pushed back the insult he made and smiled slightly as she looked back down at the journal, "It is _everything_ that I have expected it to be. You must have gone through a lot of trouble in order to get this away from the Dark Lord?"  
><em>"No kidding, Princess Obvious. You will not believe how many Wargarions I had to kill in order to get this out of that damn fortress." <em>He sarcastically said to her, _"I assume Yellow has already told you about me calling her?"_

"She did. She seemed rather convince that you were Nexus at first."

_"Nexus… haven't heard that name in a while. Guess he's still corrupting Logan's mind?"_

"I am afraid so."

She could hear him sighing deeply before he continued, _"Well don't focus on that for now. You need to put your attention on that damn book and see what sort of secrets its hiding."_

"I will. And Sin?"

_"What?"_

She didn't say anything at first, as it already felt weird to even think about saying it to someone she didn't trust, _especially_ to Sin, but she felt as though he earned it. She opened her mouth and muttered something only he could hear, "Thank you. I mean it this time."

He chuckled from the other end before replying, _"Whatever."_ She heard the line disconnecting and soon the communicator powered down.

She put it back in her pocket and flipped over to the next page. It was easier said than done, now that she thought about it. There were so many places that Vitaru had been to, so many adventures that he'd taken that it was becoming increasingly difficult to find the one topic she wanted to read up on.

After another ten minutes had gone by, she flipped to the next page and paused as she found what she had been looking for. The first line read out _'The Sea of Darkness'_, which is what Crystal had told Red and Yellow was the time when the Endless previously attacked Kanto.

_Jackpot._ She exclaimed in her head before she began her work.

Her eyes quickly skimmed through each and every word that was on each page, similar to how she read _"The Hearts That Weave Together"_, remembering each of them in full detail. Every few seconds that passed, a new page was flipped, more of its words translated and implemented within her memory. While she did so, she wrote down the translation for each word in a small notepad beside her, her eyes never leaving from the journal. Her hand flowed across the papers as each word was written perfectly and evenly spaced out.

Once the last word was written, she placed down the pencil and closed the journal before setting it gently on the small table beside the bed. She let out a small sigh and looked back down at the notepad. She enjoyed writing, but this was one of the few times where it became serious to her when it was related to the mission at hand. She flipped the pages in the notepad to the first one and began to read through it.

_Vitaru's Log, Seventeenth Day of May, Two Months After The Great War…_

_- The Sea of Darkness_

_It has been two months since the defeat of Zozorarin, the Dark Lord and leader of the Endless Army. I, along with my Guide Karee, are still travelling across dimensions in order to remove the remnants of his army and preserve the Balance. Each world that we have been to is vastly unique and interesting, but this world that we have gone to, this 'Kanto' as the Humans call it, was by far the most intriguing of them all._

_We have stayed on the world for a few days, working day and night to slay every last one of these demons, some of them being Hunters and Shadow Masters. While here, I have learned many interesting things about this world, one of them being the inhabitants. I have seen Humans on many other worlds before this, but these creatures, known as 'Pokémon', are a rather peculiar race. They represent many of the animals that I have seen on Valkeron and other worlds like Earth, but they possess powers unlike anything I have ever seen. Each of them has the ability to control one of seventeen different elements and possess a unique ability that is unique to each one. I have even communicated with some of them while we were here, one being a small green fairy that can control time, another being a Pokémon that can become one with the shadows*._

_It was not just the creatures that I have grown curious about, but the region itself, especially the part of the land the Humans have come to know as 'The Viridian Forest'._

Saria's eyes widen slightly upon seeing the name of the forest. So Vitaru had come to this world, and he had been to the Viridian Forest as well. Maybe there was something here that might shed some more light as to why he was there.

_The forest teems with life from the smallest of the Caterpies to the great Pidgeots that soar across the sky. At nightfall, the forest is even more breathtaking than it is in the day. Even from afar, I could feel a powerful surge of energy animating from it. It is as though the forest itself is calling out to me. What's more is the legend that is tied with the forest, the legend of those born from it. _

_They say that every ten years, a Human is born with powers given to them from the Viridian Forest, ranging from telepathy, healing, telekinesis, _along with a few others. I have not encountered such humans before, and while I may be interested in meeting with them, my duty as a Warrior beckons for me to purge this world of the Endless.__

As she continued reading, Saria felt more and more as though she was there with him, learning more about the Kanto Region from back then and what he did while he was there. With each page that she passed, her excitement built up more and more. She had always looked up to him as a hero and an iconic figure to the entire Vanguard race. To actually read his journal and his thoughts on the war and the worlds he's been to was like a dream coming to life. She didn't want to admit it, but she was, as what Amanda would describe, having a fangirl moment.

There were only a few pages left, and so far she hadn't come across any information regarding where the Endless had hid while they were in Kanto. She felt less hopeful about that, but continued reading nonetheless. She was bound to find something in here, and she wasn't going to stop until she found it.

_I know full well that the Endless will return. This world is teeming with life, and the Endless will have to be blind to not try and come back to take the lives of these innocent beings. Time is running out, and I know that by the time they return, I will be long gone. _

_That is why I am entrusting this next bit of information to you and only to you… Saria._

Her heart stopped as soon as she read that part. _Wh…Wh…What?_

She read that last sentence over and over again, hoping that this was some kind of joke. She didn't want to believe it, but the truth was right in front of her. Her mind had stopped transferring the words into her mind while her heart slowly began to regain its beat. This time she read the remaining pages with curiosity.

_I know full well that you are reading this right now, and I must admit that I am rather glad that you are. Too much has already happened to our people since the war began, and there has been many things going through my mind even now that I must tell someone who I know will understand. Someone like you._

_My Guide, Karee, has seen glimpses of the future. Zozorarin, the Dark Lord, will return to finish what he started, and the one who will stop him will be the next Warrior after me; Logan Stone. Your friend. She has told me about what he must do once you all arrive on the world you are reading this on. She says that a mysterious being, one who is neither Human nor Vanguard, but something that you would least expect, will await in what he calls 'The Forest of Life'. From the information that I have given you, it will be easy to know where exactly he will await. He is an outcast, branded a traitor by his kind, but his ambition to defeat the Dark Lord is just as great as yours._

_But first I must talk to you, Saria. I have put a lot of thought onto this for as long as I can remember, and upon seeing the state that the other Vanguards are in, I feel as though this is the best and only course of action._

_The past is lost to us. Our world is forever lost from us to the Endless, and so are the laws that have been passed down to us since our creation. I fear that no matter what we do, we can never rebuild what we have lost. But you… you can change all that._

_You must find the Council and seek out an audience with the Twin Gods, Daedulus and Solaris. You must tell them that the old ways are no longer with us and that we must focus on creating new ones… including the one of the forbidden love between a Warrior and a Guide._

Saria could feel her heart bursting in pure shock. He was asking her to say that… all of _that_… to the Council?! The Council would bat an eyelash and take away her status as a Guide if she were to even speak of such things. There was no way that Vitaru, the legendary and well respected hero to all Vanguards, would ever tell her to commit such a heretic act!

But as she continued to read, her conflicting thoughts became much worse.

_Karee has also told me about your love towards Logan, and how you find it to be unfair that you are unable to be with him in that kind of relationship. From what she has said, the two of you sound like a great couple. And believe me when I say that Karee is _never_ wrong with her visions._

Saria gulped down a nervous lump that was in her throat. _He-He knew that… from all the way back then?_ The words literally screamed inside of her mind upon the discovery.

_I know that you are nervous, and that you would never admit your true feelings for him, or even approach the Council with what I have told you, but you must know that our people are dying. There is only a handful of us left, not even enough to fill up half of Falcadrix*. With the new laws in place, our people will grow and start new lives in the worlds that they now live on. Even now, I calmly await the coming of my daughter, who rests within my Guide. We have respected the Gods and followed the laws for all our lives, but now, upon seeing the state our people are in, we have felt as though this was necessary. We both love each other too much to change the decision we have made. If true love is to be denied by all, then what reason is there to fight if you are unable to be with the one you love the most?_

_I have said all that I could. I know that what I have said will make you think that I am some sort of heretic, but what I speak is the truth; a truth that all Vanguards must hear. And there is no one better to take such a responsibility than you, Saria. I know that you will make the right choice. Do what you believe is right…_

_… and listen to what your _heart_ tells you._

_End of Log…_

Saria closed the notepad and held it against her chest. Her heart was heavily inside her chest as time felt like it came to a halt. Beads of sweat were trailing down her forehead, her mind a jumbled mess as she tried to sort out everything that she learned.

Vitaru asking her to speak to the Council and the Twin Gods, him knowing about her secret love to Logan… and the fact that he and Karee, his Guide, are expecting a child. A _child_!

Her mind was screaming at how completely and utterly wrong this all was. This was against everything that she believed in. A Warrior and Guide should never go that far with their relationship and bear a child. To do so would be an act of heresy, answered only through banishment to both of them. Their names would forever be marked in shame and people would look at them in disgrace.

But… she couldn't help but see that there was truth in the matter as well. Alpha has told her that he has seen many Vanguards suffering on the worlds that he's been to, and hostilities from other races are not making things any easier for them. If they continue living out the old laws, it won't be long before their entire race was extinct and their legacy lost forever.

And to make things even worse, as she began to question her belief and judgement from these thoughts, Logan soon came into mind and the strange feeling that bubbled inside of her as a result. Just thinking about him was enough for her to stop arguing with herself and made her question more about him.

Could she do it and tell him how she truly felt about him, even after telling people time and time again that it was forbidden? She respected him too much to put him in that kind of trouble, but the pain of not telling him the _truth_, as well as the void that continues to grow within her heart, was already too much for her to handle. And Vitaru's words did nothing more than make her inner turmoil become worse than it already is.

For a brief moment, as she glanced down at where Leira was now beginning to rest against Deo, she could remember the words that Vitaru had said that had stuck out to her the most:

_"Do what you believe is right… and listen to what your _heart_ tells you."_

She got up from the bed and reached out for Vitaru's journal, already having a destination in mind. She walked over and rubbed Leira's head as the child snoozed away and left the tent. Alpha was where he was at, as always, and just ahead of her she could see her friends practicing their powers or relaxing, and the trainers busy with either conversing with one another or doing some more training with their Pokémon.

And yet the one person she wanted to look for was nowhere in sight.

Feeling slightly sad and dejected, she walked over to Alpha. Her approach alerted him of her presence and he watched as she held out both the book and the notepad to him. "I have finished deciphering the text."

He took them both from her hands and nodded, **"Nice work, Saria."** He opened the journal to where Saria had found the topic and began skimming through the pages, **"Did you find anything here that could be of help?"**

She shook her head, "There are no specified locations as to where the Endless could possibly be hiding… but I did come across something rather puzzling."

**"Really? And what's that?"**

Her eyes shifted for a bit before she cleared her throat, "According to Karee, the Guide who was appointed to Vitaru, there is a powerful being, known as the 'Judge', who will wait for the next Warrior somewhere within the Viridian Forest." She answered.

His head rose up upon hearing this **"Any _specific_ location where this 'Judge' can be found?"**

Again, she shook her head.

Alpha groaned and placed a hand against the side of his head, mumbling something that Saria couldn't hear. He looked back at the two books in hand and quickly glanced at Saria, seeing that she had been eyeing them sadly for some time. He mentally shrugged and held them out to her. **"Here. I think you might find a use for these than me."**

She was stunned by this and looked up at him confusingly, "A-Are you sure? Vitaru was a good friend of yours. Did you not want to know what happened to him?"

He shook his head, **"He told me everything in person when we last met, so there's really no point in having this when I can still remember them all."** He handed them to her without waiting for her to respond and folded her fingers along the edges of the journal. **"Besides, who am I to keep you from reading up on your '_hero_'?"**

She lightly squealed in delight as she clutched the books tightly in her hands. Never in her life did she imagine that she would actually keep Vitaru's _own_ journal! If she had switched personalities with Amanda somehow, she would have surely fainted from how happy she was.

Her moment of happiness, however, faded away when she realized something. "Alpha, I do not like pestering people with these kinds of questions, but do you by any chance know where Logan might be?"

His optics raised questioningly at her, **"He's not with you?"**

Her eyes widen in shock. The way he said it meant that something was definitely wrong "What do you mean?"

**"Well, nobody's seen him since yesterday, and we definitely know that he didn't go with you guys. He should have been back by now."**

"I have only seen him since this morning, and he was still asleep by the time I got up." She lowered her head and stared at the ground with sad eyes, "Where could he have gone to?"

Alpha crossed his arms and stared at her with sharp optics. He could tell she was easily distressed about this. **"You're worried about him, are you?"**

She looked down at the cover of the journal, looking at the Vanguard symbol that glowed in a brilliant blue, "I do not understand, Alpha. Whenever we need him, he is always missing, and when he comes back, he is… different. I cannot explain how, but it seems like whenever I am near him sometimes, it is as though he has changed into… something else. And…"

The robot cocked his head slightly, noticing her delayed response. **"And?"**

She shook her head. "No. No, it is nothing." She looked at where the others were and proceeded to walk towards them. She stopped to look back at Alpha after a few feet and continued, "I will ask the others and see if they know where Logan has gone to. He will need to hear about what I have discovered."

**"Alright."**

She looked forward and proceeded over to where Brady was. While the Human was infuriating to converse with due to his personality, he is always around, so he is bound to know where Logan might have gone to.

_Let us hope that he does not give me a reason to hit him in the head again._ She thought to herself.

* * *

><p><em>3:54 PM, Red's House, Normal POV…<em>

Red sorted through all the items that he had in storage and took out the ones that he deemed the most useful. A few Full Restores, Elixers, Max Revives, Hyper Potions, a dozen Status Removers; anything that he thought his Pokémon might need for what they would soon be facing.

The small meeting continued to play in his mind as he scratched Pika behind his ears. It still bothered him that they had to wait and do nothing while those Endless things were still out there, attacking one of Kanto's cities. To make matters worse, they still have no idea where they could be hiding. There was that feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him that they could be hiding anywhere, even under their noses right here in Pallet Town. They were able to hide several hundred of them in Celadon City, even that giant one, so who's to say that they weren't doing the same thing to Saffron City or Lavender Town?

A slight knock was heard on the door, making him put down whatever he was holding and walk over to open it. His hand gripped the handle and he turned the door, opening it up less than halfway to sneak a peek at who was outside…

…and saw none other than Logan standing there.

He flew the door wide open upon seeing the Vanguard, "Logan! Thank Arceus, you're back! Everyone's been looking for you!"

The Vanguard nodded his head slowly, "I'm aware."

Red could easily tell that Logan was in pretty bad shape. There were scars and patches of dirt around his body, and his mechanical arm was all busted up. Some parts of it were so damaged that electricity started to discharge from them.

He recognized the handiwork of some of the scars quite well, "Endless."

Logan stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "Came across a pack of them while I was out taking a walk. They were making their way to Vermillion City. They even had a few Titans with them." He noticed the amount of items that were on the floor and pointed at them, "What's all this for?"

Red looked over to see what he was referring to and quickly answered, "Well, we have no idea where the Endless might be hiding, so we decided to prepare ourselves in case they decide to attack us."

He felt the intensity of Logan's glare on him and held his ground. That glare of his was even worse than Green's. It was like it was saying 'This is not your fight but mine, so stay out of it.'

Logan's hand gripped onto his arm as a slight surge of pain raced along it. He didn't come here to discuss about the Endless. He came here about something else. "Red," He began, "I need to talk to you."

The trainer had his full attention on him and waited, "What is it?"

"I know we don't know each other all that well, considering that I'm always busy trying to kill a few Endless before they do any harm to any of our friends or the Pokémon around us." He saw Red nodding his head in approval, and continued on, "But we both trust each other enough to know that neither of us are enemies, so I came here, as a friend… to ask a favour."

"What kind of favour?" Red asked.

_To Be Continued…_

* * *

><p>*The Pokémon Vitaru is referring to is Darkrai.<p>

*Falcadrix: A large continent on Valkeron. Total Population before the Great War: 36 Million

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: I wanted to give out an estimation as to how many Vanguards were still left after the Great War, since they _were_ being hunted down to extinction by the Dark Lord and the Endless. And yes I know it's weird that I had Vitaru saying that he talked to a Celebi and a Darkrai, but I couldn't help it. Those two are my favourite legendary Pokémon, and I just felt like giving them a special cameo on here.**

**Reviews and critiques are always welcomed.)**


	20. Conflicted Feelings

**(A/N: Let me just say that for the record, I suck with character development moments/character bonding, especially the one between Logan and Saria. I wanted to change the pace that this story was in as well as make a little change in the scenery since everything up to this point was nothing but conflict and problems at every corner. So I figured I try to write something different, and this is what I ended up with. I read it over a few times now, and I still feel as though it's 'incomplete', as one might put it. But since that this chapter has gone on long enough of being in development, I just said screw it and now I'm posting it. The rest of what I have to say about this chapter is at the bottom of this chapter, but for now enjoy.)**

**~ Neoshadow574 **

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 19: Conflicted Feelings<span>**

_4:49 PM, Somewhere in Kanto, Normal POV__…_

The Grim ran as fast as it could through the thickness of the forest. It still boggled the Endless' mind at how many trees there were in this land, even with those human settlements built so close by. And they were filled with so much life, the Grim wanted nothing more than to hunt down the little creatures and leech out their life from their screaming, dying forms.

But right now it could do no such thing. It needed to deliver the message, and there was nothing worse than facing _Him_ and his wrath.

The Endless jumped right through the bush ahead of it and landed in a rather large clearing. It reared its head up and saw many other Grims walking around, either snarling and fighting against one other or obeying the stronger Endless' and moving things around. It began to walk forward, snarling at a few Grims and Prowlers that walked past it, even at a Brute, before it saw the two figures up ahead.

For a moment, the Grim froze and gulped a nervous lump in its throat. To say that it was scared to approach the two was an understanding, considering that it could _feel_ their power even from afar. And the worst part was that one of them was its leader, and every Endless under _His_ control had a reason to fear him.

It slowly walked forward, approaching them with nervousness clinging all around its body and knelt down to one knee. It took a deep breath and roared out, alerting the both of them of its presence.

The moment it saw the eyes behind that visor, the Grim knew that he was not in a good mood. And that was much worse than normal.

The one with the visor stepped forward, hidden underneath the shade of the canopy of leaves overhead that left only its silhouette. But there was no mistaking that red glow that came from that visor. _-You better have a damn good reason for interrupting me, vermin.-_ His tone was so filled with malice it was indescribable for what the Grim was feeling.

The Grim tried its very best to look everywhere and not at its leader, trying to see some way to escape if things don't turn out so well. It began to speak rapidly in its native tongue, trying to tell them both what it had seen.

Something in the Endless' eye flashed and before the Grim knew it, the leader's hand was clenched around its neck in a vicegrip and had its head slammed into the ground. _-WHAT?! Are you saying that the _entire_ squadron that I sent to destroy that human settlement is wiped OUT?!-_ He slammed the Grim again and brought it up close so that it could see the fury behind its visor. _-There were Titans with them! There's no way that they could have lost! Who is responsible for this?!-_

The Grim could feel its leader tightening the grip around its thin neck, expelling whatever amount of oxygen it had left from its lungs. It struggled to break free, but it was all in vain. It did, however, manage to draw out a single word from what little air that remained in it, and the very word itself made its leader freeze in place.

_-Wa…arri…ior…-_

The leader's grip slackened as he stared at the Grim in disbelief, _-Warrior?-_ He repeated.

The forest was silent for a few more seconds before the Endless leader let loose a blood curdling roar. A bladed weapon soon appeared in his free hand and before the Grim knew it, its whole body was severed in half. The light in its eyes died down as the darkness expelled from the fallen creature.

As the Grim faded into nothingness, the leader began to trash around with the crude weapon still in hand, _-That meddlesome Vanguard! I've told you he'd get in the way! We should have killed him when we had the chance! Grrr, I'm so mad I could just… RRRAAARRRRGH!- _The Endless screamed out in frustration and pointed the weapon at a group of Grims nearby. The weapon glowed and a series of projectiles were fired. Right as they made contact, they exploded, killing the weaker Endless in a fiery explosion.

The other Endless shook his head and stepped forward, _-Perhaps it would be wise for you to not kill your own men, Shinra.-_

The first Endless turned around to face the other and stomped his way over to him until he was right up against his face, _-How can I when that Vanguard is still alive?! No matter what I send out, he somehow manages to arrive in time and save those worthless humans! Why can't we just attack him right now? He's vulnerable! He'll never see it coming!-_

The other shook his head, _-We must follow the plan, Shinra. A single mistake could put everything in jeopardy. The Master is putting his trust in us to carry on with our part of the plan.-_

_-Screw the plan, and screw the Master!-_ The first shouted out loud, _-I'm getting tired of sitting on my ass doing nothing while that Vanguard still lives!-_ He turned around and barked at the Endless that were nearby, _-You lot! Gather the rest and attack that small town the Warrior is hiding at! We will extinguish the light from their corpses if it's the last thing we-_

He wasn't able to finish his sentence, as he was suddenly lifted up in the air by an invisible force. Before he knew it, he plummet straight to the ground, slamming it so hard a crater formed in his image. He was lifted up again and brought closer to the second Endless, whose hand was engulfed in a dark aura. The Endless tightened his hand as though he was strangling someone, and in response Shinra felt his throat getting crushed. He struggled to break free, raving like the mad beast that he was, but it was futile. Anybody caught in his brother's grasp could never escape no matter how hard they tried.

The older Endless leaned his head closer and spoke so calmly that it was downright menacing to hear, _-I would watch that tone of yours, Brother. I may be forgiving when it comes to your temper, but the Master is not.-_ He applied more pressure to his grip, watching as Shinra's struggle became less frequent. _-Call off your men and wait for the signal to occur. We will wait until the next phase of the plan takes place. We have only one chance at this, so we must not screw it up. Do I make myself clear?-_

Shinra snarled out loud at him.

The other Endless tightened his grip over Shinra. His tone now shifted into an eerily calm one. _-Do I make myself clear, Shinra?-_

The younger Endless gritted his teeth and mumbled yes. Relieved with his answer, the Endless let go of his brother and watched as he dropped to the ground. He growled and motioned for the Endless to ignore his last command. When he started to regain his strength, he got up on his feet and glared at the older Endless. _-I swear Dread, that one of these days I'll kill you.-_

The Endless known as Dread raised his hand, once again surrounded in a dark aura. _-Must I repeat what had transpired moments ago?-_

Shinra scoffed underneath his breath and stormed off, fuming. Dread shook his head as he watched his brother proceeding to let out his anger on some of the Grims that were nearby.

_5:17 PM, Pallet Town, Normal POV…_

One thing that many Vanguards had agreed upon since the beginning of time was that Guides were very secretive of their emotions. So much so that it was hard to tell if they were expressing anything else other than being monotone or calm at times. A Guide who was openly expressive of themselves to others was much less a rarity to their kind, and also unheard of.

Saria feeling frustrated _and_ incredibly worried that she couldn't find Logan was one such example.

She had been searching for him for about a few hours now, going to each and every person she could find in Pallet Town, around the outskirts, even in Viridian City, asking them all if they had seen Logan. And they all said no.

She felt like tearing her hair off of its roots. How was it that someone so easy to spot from a mile away was so difficult for everyone to find? He has shadow black skin and eyes that glow in the dark! It made no sense!

_The one time I need to talk to him, and he is off doing who-knows-what! Sometimes that stubborn baka can annoy me to no end._ She continued her fruitless search for him and fumed even more. _I need to tell him about the Judge and inform him to be prepared! _

_You mean tell him what Vitaru told us._ Another voice spoke up, this one sounding just like her

As soon as she heard the second voice, she stopped. She knew what it was and tried to push it back as soon as it appeared. She didn't have the time to deal with her own thoughts right now!

_We both know that you are secretly in love with him, and how much you crave to be with him. Why is it so hard to merely accept these feelings and tell him so?_

She mentally shouted back at the voice. _Because it is forbidden, that is why! If the Council ever found out about this, they will take away my status as a Guide or…_ She dared not finish that sentence. It was already bad enough just thinking about it. _I could never put him through that amount of trouble. And besides he… already has someone else in mind._

She could envision her inner half shaking her head, _A promise like that can never last forever. Sooner or later Logan must accept the fact that something _did_ happen to Sol and realize just how foolish he has been._

Saria gasped out loud. _How could you say that!? Logan is our friend! And as his friend, I do not intend to make him suffer even more than he already is! He is already torn over the loss of Lucy! Just thinking of what might have happened to Sol would crush his spirit!_

_Then perhaps it is best to not mention it and instead tell him the truth._

Saria grasped onto the sides of her head and closed her eyes. This was starting to get out of hand. _I… I cannot. _

_Yes you can! _The other voice argued back. _Compared to the problems you have faced before, from being poisoned by that Endless weeks ago and almost drowning within Legion, this is nothing! What is so hard about it?_

_Just… Just shut up!_

Saria was so focused with her internal conflict that she punched the air in front of her. Only to her shock, she _did _something. And from the way the pain flowed through her hand, it was definitely hard. She looked up to see what she hit and froze when she saw a pair of familiar heterochromic eyes, holding what looked like concern etched with a bit of pain in their sharp gaze.

She gasped out loud upon realizing who she hit and frantically apologized, "I am so sorry, Logan! I did not know that you were there! Krosias, what is wrong with me? A-Are you alright?"

She was speaking so fast it sounded like incoherent rambling. He smiled at her as his hand was over the spot where Saria had punched him, "I'm fine, Saria. Don't worry about it." He pointed at her and added on, his voice now with growing concern, "Though I wish I could say the same about you. You were throwing one hell of a tantrum when I saw you."

Her blush deepened as soon as she heard him speaking. She shook her head and locked eyes with him. Her expression became more serious and she waved a finger at him. Logan could tell right away that she wasn't happy. "Where have you been?! We have been looking everywhere for you!" She pressed her finger against his chest and continued to shout at him, "Do you have any idea how worried I was? I had come across important information that is vital to our mission, and the one time I needed you the most, you just up and vanished!"

She crossed her arms and looked away from him, fuming as she did. "Sometimes you can be a hard-headed stubborn baka!"

She heard him wincing out loud, sounding as though he was in pain. Panic started to overcome Saria. Maybe she went a little too far this time. She turned around to see what was wrong, and when she did, she finally noticed his injuries.

Saria gasped loudly and moved up until she was a few centimetres away from him and inspected the injuries on his left arm. "How… How long have these injuries been here?" Logan opened his mouth to reply, but she immediately cut him off, "Do not answer that." She looked at one of the injuries, seeing how deep and rather gruesome it looked, before she let go of his arm and moved back a few feet. "Stay here. I will go and grab the medical supplies from the tent."

Logan shook his head as he took a step forward to her, "Saria, I think you're overreacting about a littl–"

At that moment, Saria whirled around to face him and practically pushed him down until he was sitting on the grassy field. Her eyes flashed in annoyance and she pointed at him, her tone suddenly growing darker, "Stay. Here. And do not move." She said slowly before running off to the tent to gather the stuff she needed.

While watching her leave, Logan's eyes were wide open in surprise at the display of anger Saria had shown. Usually calm and humble to everyone, but the moment she suddenly becomes furious, she was a completely different person. It was scary, to be honest, to anyone who was on the receiving end of her temper, and Logan was no exception.

She returned soon after with an armful of supplies, ranging from rolls of bandages to what Logan could tell were antiseptics. She laid them on the ground beside him on a white cloth and set herself down on her knees behind him. She grabbed his arm and held it out to his side, causing him to cringe from the sudden movement. She noticed how his left shoulder looked out of place and instinctively placed a hand against it while the other held onto the arm. She pushed with all her might and a loud popping sound occurred. Logan cried out in pain as he felt the bone returning back into its socket.

Before he could say anything to her, she placed a few drops of antiseptic on one of the more serious injuries and cringed as he felt the searing pain coming from it. The pain was soon replaced by wet cloth, letting the warm water soak the pain away.

He turned his head until he could see the side of her face and shouted, "That really hurts, you know!"

"Perhaps it would not hurt so badly if you were not fighting in unnecessary battles." She stated coldly. She removed the cloth and moved on to the next one, repeating the same process.

"If I hadn't done anything, Vermillion would have been destroyed by now." He argued back before looking ahead again. He scoffed underneath his breath and added, "And here I thought that you would have been proud about my progress as the so-called 'Warrior'."

He knew right off the bat that she didn't appreciate what he said, and felt her hand smacking the back of his head. He let out a loud 'Ow' and reached back to rub the spot where he got hit, but Saria grabbed it and moved it back to his side again.

It was official. She was definitely mad at him.

She began wrapping the bandages around his upper arm after finishing with applying the antiseptic there. As she did, her eyes had been staring at him with no emotion. "I would have been proud of you if you were more careful with what you were doing, as well as listened to what others tell you." She sighed underneath her breath and continued on, "You have been given such an important responsibility, the least you can do is treat it as such."

Logan groaned and brought a hand up to his forehead. Here she goes again with her lecturing.

"And yet whenever we need you, you are always off for who knows how long! And when you do come back, you are either covered in scars or barely have the strength to stand on your own two feet!"

"I know," Logan said to her.

"No you do not!" She countered as she finished the last of the bandages and proceeded to work on the ones on his back. "You always promise us that you would never get yourself hurt, yet you still do so! Sometimes I wonder if you ever pay attention to what we say!"

"Saria, I do listen to you, but what if–"

If Saria paid close attention to the sudden change in his body temperature, she would have stopped talking right away. But unfortunately, she continued on with her bantering, "You always say that you keep your promises to others, but I often times find it hard to believe that when you are always running off getting yourself killed!"

Logan couldn't take it anymore and spun around to face her, his face contorted in rage. His left eye and the symbols glowed deep red and he barred his newly formed jagged teeth at her. "What if I'm not the one you think I am?! What if everything that I've done and lived through is all a _lie_?! What if all this was just for nothing!? Would that be enough to convince you to keep your goddamn trap shut!?"

Saria stared at him in sheer horror. Her heart was pounding so fast she thought it might break down. He never, _ever_, shouted at her like that. Not since the first time they met, but that was because he was confused of what was going on and why t all had to happen to him.

The murderous rage remained on his face for a few more moments before he noticed the shocked expression on her face. When he did, the colour drained from his instantly. The menacing red glow faded back to normal and his jaw slowly sewn itself back together. A look of guilt flashed in his eyes before he looked away from her. He mentally scolded himself. He had no idea what came over him, and now he was feeling incredibly ashamed to the person who understood him the most. He buried his face in his metallic hand as the guilt began to cloud his heart once more.

Saria remained still for a few long moments, to which in her case felt like an eternity. The mental image of Logan screaming at her was enough to make her shake like a leaf. And the things that he said, the way he said them; it was those words that disturbed her the most. He was frustrated, yes, but there was another emotion that she had noticed, one that started to make a bit of sense know that she thought about it. Regardless, she placed the cloth on his back and continued to wash the scars, the silence slowly filling up the air around them.

The two didn't say a word to each other after that, mixed emotions still occupying their minds. It wasn't long before Saria heard her friend's voice speaking up, but it was very quiet. Yet she could still make out the words that he said, and they managed to catch her by surprise.

"I'm… I'm sorry." He apologized.

The words echoed in her mind like an orchestra, and were enough to lift some of her fear from within her heart. There was something strange about the way he said it, too. It felt as though she heard that apology before, but she couldn't place her finger on where she exactly. She shifted her position a bit and cleared her throat, "I am sorry as well, Logan. I should have never yelled at you. It was not my place to do so."

"No. You had every right to… even if they are true."

That last part confused her greatly and she couldn't help but ask, "I do not understand."

She heard him sighing out loud before he turned around to look at her again. The sorrow look he gave out was enough to break her heart in two. "Everything you said… it's true. I'm always putting myself in danger even when I promised you all that I wouldn't. But that's because… I…" He stopped as he struggled to find the words. This was a new side of him that Saria had never seen before. She was familiar with how he would often times change emotions as if it was a split personality, but this was entirely new to her. He sounded as though he was afraid to explain it to her. "I… don't want anyone to suffer the same way that I have."

She shook her head, knowing full well why he would say that. "A promise like that is impossible to fulfill, Logan." She stated matter-of-factly, "No matter how hard you try, there will always be those who you cannot save, and putting yourself at risk to help them will not change anything."

He sighed again, "I know. But… that doesn't mean I should give up on them. It's the whole reason why I fight everyone's battles, and why I prefer to do things on my own." He looked down at the robotic arm and continued, "I thought that I was doing everything that I could back on Earth, dealing with Ark and any other asshole who pushed other people around. Now, I'm not so sure."

The female Vanguard remained silent as Logan continued, "With everything that's been happening, I'm not sure if I know what I'm doing, and if it's the right choice. I don't even know who I am anymore." He curled his fingers until he formed a fist, "And whenever the others are with me, and when we encounter something, I feel like I'll screw up at some point… and it may end up costing their lives."

She caught on to what he meant and spoke softly, "You are afraid that you will lose your friends as a result of your leadership."

"It's not just that I'm worried about." He stated, "It's what I'm becoming that's the problem. Every day, I can feel my rage growing, and the more time that passes, the more I hear Nexus' voice calling out to me, telling me to end my pain. I… I don't want to hurt you or the others when that happens."

"That will never happen, Logan. You are much stronger than you think, both physically and mentally. You _are_ the Warrior after all."

"But how do you know if I am who you claim I am?" He asked her, his voice suddenly raising its tone, "Has it ever occurred to you that I might not be this 'Warrior'? What if all this time I was never one and someone else might be it? What about everything that I've seen and did in the past three months? Was it supposed to have been me to go through all that, or someone else? What would I do then if that was the truth? What would _you_ do if it was all true?" He hung his head as a few tears managed to fall from his eyes. He had been holding all of this back for so long, he couldn't stop even if he wanted to. "I don't know what to do anymore. Everything that I've been told by my family and friends, everything that I once believed in, none of it makes any sense anymore. I feel like I'm going insane just trying to remember who I was before all this happened. I can't take it anymore!"

Saria wasn't sure what to say at this point. It seemed like whatever she said only made Logan feel worse. She thought hard over something that might help and recalled the time when she peered into Yellow's heart. At first she didn't pay much mind to it, but now she could see that it might come in handy. "What of the words that you had exchanged with Yellow when you two first met? The ones about bravery and being who you are? Have you not considered using the same advice for yourself?"

"No."

A look of shock was all over Saria's face upon hearing this, "Why not?" She asked, obviously confused about his answer. Why would Logan refuse to listen to even his own words?

"Because such words are meant for those who truly deserve them, and I'm not one of them."

She didn't say anything as she let the information sink in. As she did, she felt more and more troubled by what she heard. So that was the reason why he was feeling this was; He was scared of what was happening to him and what he was putting his friends into. It was definitely a horrible thing to think about, and to see it happening to Logan made it feel even worse. Her heart grew heavy in response to his pain as her mind already came up with an idea to help him.

She dropped the cloth on top of the pile and placed the palm of her hands tenderly on his back. She then placed her forehead in-between her hands. The moment her head made contact, a wave of warmth flowed from him and across her entire body, followed soon after by a feeling of bliss. She couldn't explain it, but this strange warmth that she seldom times encountered felt so… heavenly. The sound of his heart echoing in air around her was like music to her ears.

She stayed that way for a little longer before speaking to him, "Logan, I know without a doubt that you are the one who will restore balance to all of life. Do you know why?"

"…No." He answered.

A sincere smile, one which she was glad that Logan couldn't see, appeared across her face, "It is because you know firsthand what would happen to those people if the Endless got to them. You have devoted yourself to protect them from danger and ensure that they will live in an era of peace, free from fear. You have given them the one thing that they have all forgotten as a result of this war; Hope." Her hands glided around his body until they were wrapped around him. She pulled him close in a gentle hug as she continued, "Your concern whether or not you really are the Warrior is understandable, as well as your concern over your friends safety. Many Warriors before you have felt the same way. But that does not stop them from fulfilling the promises that they have made to their friends."

"I know that you are worried about the others, and the duties that you must fulfill in order to preserve peace, but I know that if anyone can do it, it is you Logan, because I believe in you. Even if you were not the real Warrior, I would never leave your side." She felt Logan stir in her arms, obviously confused about her last statement. "You have taught me so much about Humans that I never knew before, and how important it is to have friends. I was taught to work alongside the Warrior and put trivial things such as friendship behind, so I never fully understood the concept of 'letting loose and having fun'. But you… you had shown me just how important they are. And for that, I thank you, Logan, with a promise."

"A promise?" He asked.

"Yes," Her voice rang out like a soft melody before hugging him even closer to her, "I promise you that I will always be with you no matter what happens, because, as you had told me once before, it is what friends do."

Logan didn't say anything back to her. Yet if he did, he would have been touched by the words that she said. Instead, he remained where he was as Saria continued to comfort him. As she did, he could not help but feel a bit of warmth travelling up to his face.

_Elsewhere…_

At another part of Pallet Town, Yellow was currently lying down with her back on the grass and staring up at the sky. Her Pokémon were slowly beginning to wake up and proceeded to move around in an effort to get rid of their exhaustion. A smile that she had faked ever since the meeting was replaced with a confused and sad one. While she should have been feeling happy and spending time with her friends, the events that had happened in the past several days still lingered in her mind. From the Endless to Nexus, the young Viridian girl was having difficulty trying to tell the difference between reality and illusion. The pills that Blue gave her were doing well in keeping Nexus at bay, but even then there was a limit, and she wasn't sure how long this would keep up before it finally got to her.

She thought for sure that the worst part of the week so far was her encounters with Nexus. That thing always manages to make her cringe in fear and look over her shoulder every minute. She was proven wrong when that stranger, who Saria later confirmed as Sin, told her that her world was about to be destroyed by the Endless. Granted, she and her friends had saved the world a few times before, but that was against _other_ people and their Pokémon. Endless _weren't_ trainers, or even Pokémon to be exact. They were feral, blood hungry, and destructive beasts from space. And it seemed like no matter how many they defeated, more and more just seem to take their place.

Yellow removed her hat to fix her hair, the wind gently blowing through it. As she did, her eyes were glued to the hat and remained there. A frown spread across her face as she remembered the words she and Logan had exchanged the first day they met. He had told her that the hat was never the reason why she became so brave during her adventures, but it was hard to believe that. She had tried every day to be as brave as Red and the others, but with no luck. And it didn't help either that she had a dislike for violence. Wearing the hat made her feel as though she could finally match up to their potential. But now, looking back to when she first got it, she was still surprised that she held onto it for so long and hadn't thrown it away. The thought made Yellow realize that she was even more determined to be like the others then she originally thought.

Her mind wandered back to the talk that she had with the Vanguard who started this whole internal dilemma, and the words that they have exchanged with one another once more.

_7 Minutes Ago…_

Yellow opened her eyes slowly as the afternoon sun momentarily blinded her and let out a long yawn. She sat up and looked over to see her Pokémon. They were all still snoozing away, a look of serene on all their faces. She smiled at the sight. Soon she would have to wake them up and feed them dinner, but she felt as though they earned a few more minutes of rest, after what they've all been through. She would have planned on doing the same thing, but at the moment she didn't have the privilege to do so.

Something didn't feel right, and she knew it right away. It felt as though she was being watched by someone… Or something. She turned around to see who it was and jumped in shock when she saw none other than Logan standing there nonchalantly, his sharp eyes fixed on hers. She clutched the spot over her heart and took a few deep breaths to get rid of the mild heart attack that came. _Arceus, does he ever stop doing that?_ She thought out loud as she took a glance at him. As soon as she saw the various wounds around his body, she knew that he had just been in a fight, against who she did not want to know.

Logan ignored the stare she was giving him and spoke, "Good afternoon, Yellow." He greeted.

She looked up at him, still shaking from the jump scare Logan gave her and stammered out a reply, "H-Hi… L-Logan…"

The Vanguard cocked his head slightly, noticing a change in her tone of voice. She was still slightly shock, but there was another that he easily identified. "You alright, Yellow? You sound a little depressed."

"I'm fine. It's… It's just been a rough week so far."

She was half-lying. He could easily see that from just glancing at her heart. He kept it to himself and nodded his head, "Can't argue with that." He began to walk around, one hand raised up to his chin in deep thought while the other was tucked in his jeans pocket, "So, have you told him yet?"

The question caught her off guard and she gave him a rather frightful look. She had a slight assumption as to who he was referring to, but she needed to test and see if she was right, "Told who?" She asked innocently.

"Red." He replied. Upon hearing the name, Yellow's entire face blushed a deep shade of red. She knew that it was Red, but just hearing his name made her feel like she was soaring in the air. She heard Logan continue talking and snapped out of her thoughts to listen to him, "Have you told him how you really feel about him yet?"

"Well I… um… he… ah…" She stammered out loud, fidgeting her fingers against one another as she did.

Logan caught on to her nervousness right away, "You haven't told him yet, have you?" He saw her shaking her head no and sighed to himself. This was going to be harder than he thought. "Look, Yellow. I understand that you're nervous, everyone is when it comes to something like this. But you need to tell him the truth as soon as you can before it's too late. Otherwise, you'll never get the chance to tell him."

"I know. I know." She said sadly as she lowered her head. "It's just… I… I don't know if… if he likes me the same way. Wh-what if I make a complete fool of myself and ruin everything? What if I'm not the kind of girl he likes?" Her head quickly flew up and there were now tears streaming down her face, "What if I do something awful and it causes us to lose our friendship?! I don't want that to happen!"

"Come on. You really don't believe that, do you?" He asked, his eyes staring at her quizzically.

"Logan. Look at me." The way her voice was sounded like she had given up on everything. "I'm small. I'm weak. I don't like battling like the others do. I always get myself in trouble no matter what I do, and Red and the others are always the ones who have to save me. I'm not even as beautiful as all the girls Red met, or like the others. I'm just… not good enough for him." She clutched the spot on her chest where her heart was and whimpered quietly, not caring if Logan was watching.

The Vanguard kept quiet and watched as the small girl cried. He sighed out loud, mostly to himself. If there was one thing that bothered him the most, it was seeing other people cry. He shook his head and his gaze grew more serious. He be damned if he just let her cry over something as ridiculous as this, of that he was sure of.

"Yellow, listen to me," His voice rang in her ears in a strange calmness that sounded alluring to her, "You are not weak. You've proved it before against Lance, the Mask of Ice, Team Rocket, basically anyone who tried to stop you. Your unique view on Pokémon sets you apart from everyone else, and your determination to help your friends is something to be greatly admired about. And your problem over not being as beautiful as other girls is not something to be upset about. Someone once told me that it's not what matters on the outside, but what matters on the inside, and you my friend are perfect both in and out." Her cries started to die down, hinting that his words were starting to have effect. "Between you and your friends, you are by far the strongest in terms of will and heart. To me, that's where your true strength lies." He walked over to her and placed his right hand on her shoulder, grasping it gently within its iron grip.

The cold touch was enough to bring her out of her thoughts and she lifted her head up to look at his eyes. No matter how hard she looked at them, she could see that they no lies over the words that he said. "If you're going to let fear prevent you from confessing to the one you love, then all you're doing is running away from your problem. You need to confront that fear and prove to yourself that you won't run away from it anymore. You just need to give yourself a little more confidence."

Yellow stood there, her mouth agape in pure amazement. How was it that Logan, who she had only known for a few days and was a couple years older than her, could say such comforting words? She raised a hand up to her eyes and wiped the tears that still remained, "It's… It's really th-that easy? Just give myself more confidence and tell Red the truth?" She asked him.

"Yellow. I know without a doubt that if you tell him how much he really means to you, he would surely feel the same way about you. Of that, I am certain."

The last of her tears finally disappeared as she wiped the few that still remained on her face. A small smile had formed on her lips and she nodded her head to him, "…Th-Thank you."

The Vanguard chuckled as he let go of her shoulder and ruffled her hair. "Anytime." He turned around and began to walk away, more than likely heading to where his friends were.

As she watched the Vanguard go, a thought crossed her mind and she shouted out his name, "Logan!"

He stopped and turned around to face her, "What is it?"

"I was wondering if…" Her voice immediately quieted when her mind began to recall the reaction that Saria had made last night when she asked her a similar question. From the way she acted and avoided the topic, it was as though she was trying to figure this whole thing herself. She shook her head and waved a hand to him. "…Never mind. It's nothing."

Logan shrugged his shoulders at her sudden change of mind and continued on with his way, leaving Yellow to ponder more over his words.

_Present Time…_

The Viridian trainer stared at the hat for what felt like hours before she lied back down on the grass. She held the hat in-between her hands and placed it over her chest as she watched the clouds slowly drift by. The sky was slowly turning orange, indicating that the sun was close to setting. She felt a light breeze rush by and closed her eyes, letting the peace and silence that appeared bring her to her happy place.

She couldn't tell exactly, but she had the strangest feeling that someone was with her. She opened her eyes and her cheeks flushed deep red when she saw a pair of red eyes staring down at her, belonging to none other than Red himself.

Yellow immediately sat upright and looked up at him, trying to find her voice through her nervousness. "R-Red! You startled me!" She got up to her feet and proceeded to brush the dirt off her tunic, "I thought that you were training with your Pokémon."

"I was," He replied, "before I remembered that I needed to talk to you about something."

"About what?"

Red reached for the back of his head and scratched it, unsure as to how he should proceed, "Well, the thing is I…" He stopped and looked at Yellow, seeing her eyes shining as if they were reflecting the sun's light. This only caused him to grow more nervous and stammer slightly. He had dealt with Giovanni and Team Rocket on numerous occasions, defeated Green and became Champion of Kanto, basically anything that was thrown at him. Why was it so hard to talk to Yellow now, even though he had done this many times before?

"We've been friends for a long time Yellow. Going on adventures together, fighting against corrupted organizations bent on changing the world." He laughed out loud and spoke rather loudly this time, "It's just been one crazy ride after another, huh?"

"Yes it has." Yellow agreed.

"And the stuff that happened in the past few days pretty much tops almost everything that we've been through since the beginning."

Again, she agreed with him, though this time she was confused. Why was Red talking about all this? It was unlike him to do so. "Red, is there something you needed to tell me?" She asked him, her curiosity finally getting the better of her.

"What I'm trying to say Yellow is that… we've been through a lot together, both good and bad times, and so we grew to know each other a little better." He was oblivious to notice the blush that appeared on Yellow's face and kept going, "I was never aware about it because I wasn't sure how to say it, but someone reminded me that I need to make a decision and tell you the truth soon, or I might not get the chance to do so."

Now she was really curious of what he wanted to say. And she couldn't help but detect a bit of similarity over the words he said. "What truth?"

Within the depths of the murky waters, a pair of white eyes shined brightly, piercing the darkness like blades. A deep and booming voice echoed all around the speaker, followed up by growling.

_-It… is time.-_

A dark, violet coloured light began to shine between the figure's hands. Just as it appeared, a shockwave erupted all around the being, spreading as far as the waters travelled. Something began to fizz around him in response as though it was dissolving, and soon, the very essence of the being and his legendary powered was carried with the shockwave.

"The truth is… I–"

Red had never gotten the chance to say it to Yellow, for within moments the Viridian girl was clutching onto the sides of her head, writhing in agony. He pushed away all thoughts relating to what he was about to say and ran to her side, holding onto her as he felt her shaking in his arms. Yellow's Pokémon gathered around them in fear at what was happening to their trainer. Worried about his friend, Red called out her name. "Yellow! Yellow, what's wrong?"

She looked at him through pain-filled eyes as her shaking came to a halt. She took a few deep breaths in an attempt to recollect herself before answering him, "The forest… something's happening in the forest…"

The male trainer stared at her in concern, "What's wrong with it?"

"I… I don't know… The trees… they're crying out in fear… Something is in there with them… Something powerful… They can feel it…"

He lifted her up and wrapped his arm around her so that she wouldn't fall to the ground again, "We need to go find the others!" He told her as he started to guide her to where the others might be. If what Yellow said was true, then he needed _his_ help for this. He just hoped that he wasn't busy at the moment.

There was something about life that irked Logan in some way. Maybe it was because it had a terrible sense of humour and just loved to throw everything from Hell itself at his feet. Or maybe it was because he had to deal with his nightmare persona at a regular basis.

Or maybe it was the fact that he was currently screaming out in anger while holding onto his head to suppress the massive headache that had suddenly appeared.

He was simply enjoying the moment he was spending with Saria when the headache appeared. He was familiar with what it meant, but the fact that it came with a force of an SUV was enough to make him realize that this wasn't normal. Then again, normal was the last word he would use to describe everything that's happened. Whatever was causing this, it was certainly much more powerful than anything he ever faced.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Saria trying to speak to him, her voice lapsed with worry. How she was not being affected as well, he could never tell, but he could tell from the way her eyes looked that she was deeply upset at what was happening to him. She placed her hands on his arm in an effort to help him, but it did little in doing so. "Logan, tell me what is wrong. Perhaps there is something here that I could use to help you."

"AAAARRRRRRGH!" Logan roared out in response. Damn, it hurt so badly. No amount of pain that he had endured could ever match what he was feeling right now. He glared up at Saria and shouted out to her, "How are you not being affected by this?"

"Affected by what?" She asked.

His eyes widen in surprise. She didn't know what was causing this? Did that mean that whatever was causing this was specifically targeting him? He gritted his teeth as the pain grew worse "Argh… Something's causing this to me… this migraine… I can't tell where, but it feels like it's close–"

Before he had the chance to finish, the pain immediately stopped and he felt a powerful presence in the air around him. It was just as he thought – this power belonged to something much stronger than anything he had ever faced. And it was indeed coming from close by. His head turned around to look at where it was coming from and found himself staring at the Viridian Forest. Snarling, Logan quickly climbed up to his feet and wildly ran to the forest, intent on finding out what was causing all of this. Any bandages that were loose over his injuries were stripped off as a result of the sudden action and fell to the ground, their fabric stained with blood.

Saria tried to stop him, but by the moment she got up to her feet, he was already gone. "You have not yet recovered from your injuries, Logan! Come back!" She shouted at him, though she knew that it was futile. Once he set his mind on something, there was no stopping him. She shook her head in defeat and summoned her weapon. "I better follow and ensure he does not do something reckless once again."

"Saria!" A voice called out from behind.

The Vanguard turned around and saw Red and Yellow running up to her, with the latter being supported by her friend. A quick glance confirmed that something bad must have happened to her. "Red. Yellow. What happened?"

"No time to talk!" Red interrupted, "Where's Logan?"

She pointed in the direction that her friend had taken. "He went within the Viridian Forest. There is something in there that caused him a lot of pain, though I cannot be sure what it is." She turned back around and promptly asked him again, "Why do you seek his aid? What is going on?"

"I'll explain on the way, right now we need to go after him!" He hastily said.

Soon, the two trainers and Vanguard sprinted after Logan, unaware of what they will soon face, as well as the silhouette that followed after them.

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><p><strong>There were a lot of things about this chapter that I either enjoyed writing about or struggled with. One of the things I DID enjoy was introducing the second antagonist of this story alongside Nexus, the Endless known as Shinra. And yes, the name Shinra DOES come from Final Fantasy, but there is no relation between the two. I just thought that it was a cool name to have.<strong>

**The other thing that I did enjoy writing about yet struggled with at the same time was Saria's conversation with Logan. I feel like I could have improved it somehow, but I couldn't figure out how to do so. The reason why I struggled with it is because I'm writing this story AS I'm thinking it over instead of planning it before hand. You may have noticed this as you were reading through the story. The good thing is that whenever it comes to writing Saria's dialogue or the things that happen to her through her perspective, I always look forward to it. If you haven't guessed by now, Saria is one of my favourite OCs, the other being Nexus. I just like how I created her into a strong-willed and respectful person, as well as giving her a well-mannered speech with no contractions like can't, won't and shouldn't. If Saria was a real person, I feel like we would have a lot of good conversations with one another.**

**The more I read over this story, the more I feel as though I could have improved it at some parts, especially the one with Leira having Pokemon. In hindsight, I think she should have only one Pokemon, that one being Cubone, while the other three are entirely different creatures or animals. Poochy, for example, I see as more of a regular puppy than a Poochyena. I don't know if I should edit all this stuff before writing Chapter 20 or after I finish Orange Blossoms. I'm also coming up with new ideas on how to make this story into an original one, with new characters and creatures, but in order for it to make sense I have to write another story that introduces them before this one.**

**As for the progression of other stories, I think I'll forget about writing any other story besides this one and Let's Play Adventures. There are a few stories I do have in mind, but they'll more than likely be short stories focusing on characters from different games, the two most prominent ones being Ciaran and Priscilla from Dark Souls, since I've noticed that there are NO STORIES about these two on this site. Plus, these two are my favourite characters from the game, so writing them will be a lot of fun.**

**I should also point this out before finishing off my rambling; two weeks from now, between March 3 and 4, it will be a year since I've posted Orange Blossoms on both DeviantART and Fanfiction. I feel like I should celebrate it somehow and figure out a way to thank you all for being such awesome people, but I don't know how to do so. I'll probably ignore it and just continue on since it's not a big deal, but I wanted to point that out for those who wanted to know.**

**That's pretty much what I wanted to say about this story. I wanted to let all that stuff out of my chest. If you guys have any suggestions on how I could improve on the problems I'm having, or things that I can fix, feel free to say them in your reviews/critiques. Other than that, that's about it. I hope you all enjoyed reading this and I will see you guys next time. Take care everybody.**


	21. Corruption I: A Memory Best Forgotten

**(A/N: This chapter took a lot less time than all the others, to which I was kind of surprised about. I haven't uploaded since I've finished it a few days ago because I wanted to submit both this one and the next one, but Chapter 21 has proven to be taking a little longer to go through _(That, and the fact that I've been playing Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance like crazy. It has some of the best boss fights and soundtrack I have ever seen!)_ Truthfully, I've been writing Chapter 21 while writing the earlier chapters as a way to get rid of my writer's block, and I almost finished it. I just now have to go through it and edit any mistakes I've made.**

** I tried to incorporate Red and Yellow in this chapter as much as I could, but in the end they ended up playing a minor role. They'll have a bigger role in the next set of chapters. This will also explain a little more about what happened to Logan and how Nexus came into being.**

**This song, in my opinion, fits the fight scene that's on this chapter perfectly. I don't why. It just does for some odd reason. **

**/watch?v=LO3jBivegxw _[Place it beside the YouTube URL]_****)**

**~ Neoshadow574**

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 20: Corruption Part I: A Memory Best Forgotten<span>**

_Viridian Forest, Normal POV…_

The dead silence that filled up the emptiness that lied within the Viridian Forest dissipated wherever Logan went to. Bushes and branches that stood in his way were ploughed down as though they were nothing. Pokémon who were wise enough scurried off or hid when Logan came into view, growling like a wild animal as he did.

He couldn't explain why he was acting like this. Usually when it came to sensing other presences, he was either calm or aggressive depending on whom or what was casting it. This presence, on the other hand, made him feel like he had already given into his rage. The rational part of him told him to stop and turn around; well aware that he could not defeat such a being with whatever amount of power he had right now. But the primal, more dominant part of him told him to keep going; convincing him that whoever or whatever was behind this must not be able to leave the forest alive. Clenching his teeth tightly, Logan picked up the pace and began to leap from one tree to the next, hoping to try and pick up the time that he wasted.

Clear away from him but still having him in view, Saria chased after him as she stayed close to the path of devastation that Logan took as evident from the torn branches that were on the ground. Behind her, Yellow and Red were trying their hardest to keep up with the Vanguard, not used to how fast she was.

The male trainer saw Logan hopping across the trees clear ahead of them and whistled, "Arceus, for someone who looks like he got mauled by an Ursaring, he sure runs pretty fast."

"He is a Vanguard, after all." Saria answered him, "Though I wish I could tell just where he is going. This forest is like a natural maze, as your friends described it. What could it be that has Logan so riled up?"

Yellow wanted to know the same thing, yet secretly she wished she wasn't so curious about it. She had seen the extent of his fury at Celadon City, and the way he was acting now, even though she could barely see him, looked as though he was slowly descending into that once again. As her eyes trailed after him, she took notice of the terrain around them and felt a spark of remembrance in the back of her mind. "Red, doesn't this path seem familiar to you?" She asked him.

Red wasn't sure what she meant until he started to look around at the surroundings as well. Sure enough, memories were beginning to flow as he recognized some of the trees that they've passed. "Come to think of it, it does. But wait? Does that mean-?"

A shout appeared from up ahead, stopping Red mid-sentence. All three of them picked up the pace and burst out of the large set of bushes that were in the way, stopping once they were in the clear.

Both of the trainers took a moment to view their surrounding while Saria looked at Logan with worry. He had summoned both his swords and was pacing around, trying to find whatever it was that brought him here. Fire began to seep along his body in preparation for a possible ambush. As he searched around the area, though, Saria could see his muscles beginning to slacken and his grip slowly loosening around the blades. He then stopped moving completely and started to stare at the area in disbelief.

Sensing what was going on, Saria walked up to his side and asked, "What is it, Logan? Is something wrong?"

There was indeed something wrong, but Logan was unable to say it to her. It was as though his entire body, from his skin down to his nervous systems, had frozen completely at the sight of what was in front of him. He shook his head as his eyes grew wide, uttering out a few words in a voice that was too faint for Saria to hear.

"It can't be..."

By the time he finished saying that, both Red and Yellow have noticed where they were and said the same thing, only a little louder this time.

Right in front of them, in the clearing surrounded by the trees and within the light of the setting sun, was the lake from Day One.

The same lake that Yellow had saved and met Logan for the first time.

Logan shook his head again and uttered out a long string of no's, each one growing louder and more aggressive than the last. This had to be a mistake. There was no way that whatever was casting such a powerful presence could have been hiding here, in the first place that he had been to. He would have been able to detect such a force the moment he was pulled out of the water. How was it able to escape his notice for so long? He slammed both swords onto the ground, leaving slash marks where they struck and cursed.

The trainers were also expressing shock at the fact that they were back at the lake. Their minds played back memories of that day; how it went from sleeping under the stars to a night of mystery from Logan and horror from the Endless. One particular memory made Red cringe as he recalled fighting against the Grim that tried to kill Yellow. The hatred and evil that he saw within those faint crimson eyes sent shivers down his spine.

"This doesn't make any sense!" Red began as he carefully observed each tree for where their mysterious foe was, "We were here just a few days ago! I mean sure a lot of things happened, like meeting Logan and almost being killed by Endless, but one of us would have known right away if there was something else here!"

"Whatever is here was hiding itself and its presence from the forest itself. If the forest felt something that wasn't a part of it, then I would have felt the same thing." Yellow answered honestly.

Saria picked up on their conversation and questioned them, "You have been here before?"

"We've _all_ been here, Saria. This was where I met Logan after I pulled him out of the lake." Yellow took a quick glance at him and added, "I still can't believe that I thought he was a Pokémon that day."

Their conversation was interrupted as they heard Logan screamed out in fury. They all looked at him just in time to see fire masking around his swords. His eyes blazed in fury as he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Is this supposed to be some kind of a joke?!" He turned around wildly, scanning the trees for any sign of movement before his shouting continued, "Whoever brought me here; I know you're there! Show yourself now, before I find you myself!"

"Logan, what has gotten into you?" Saria questioned him. Logan had never acted like this before. Why was he like this now?

He didn't respond to her and instead continued to scan the area. He knew that there was something close by, but where exactly he could not tell. The Endless could be hiding somewhere in the trees, hiding underground, anywhere. And in an area with so many places to hide, it was the perfect ambush setting.

Suddenly, to his surprise, he heard a voice speaking to him in his mind. The voice sounded ancient, and he could immediately detect the sense of wisdom that it held. _-Such anger and fury flows within this one. Young you may be, but there is no mistaking the immense amount of power that is within you.-_ The voice grew silent before it spoke once more, _-I see that you have not come alone. You are accompanied by another Vanguard, one who serves as your Guide, and two of the humans who live on this world.-_

The others heard the voice as well, and each of them was just as surprised as Logan. They all looked around frantically, desperately searching in vain for where this thing was hiding. "Who are you?" Saria asked the voice, "And why have you summoned Logan here?"

The voice let out a long deep breath before answering, _-You know full well who I am, Saria.-_ At the mention of her name, Saria froze. How did this thing knew her name? _-I know many things about you, and the war that you wage against the Dark Lord and his Endless Army. As for who I am, you may simply refer to me as 'The Judge'.-_

Her eyes widen upon hearing that. This being was the Judge? If that was true, then that means that Logan was here to be…

Logan didn't believe it and mocked the voice, "Well, if you're so high and mighty, then stop hiding in the shadows and face me! Or are you just a coward who's all talk but no action?"

Saria gasped at what she was hearing, "Logan, do you have any idea who you are insulting? This is the Judge, the one who will test you and see if you are ready to face the Dark Lord!"

"What?" Logan asked, obviously miffed from what she said.

He was about to ask her why she didn't say anything about the so-called 'Judge' before the voice spoke again, this time more directed to him. _-If that is what you wish.-_

None of them were prepared as the earth suddenly shook underneath their feet. Yellow began to stumble and grabbed Red at the last second to stop herself from falling. The two Vanguards maintained their footing, but Logan kept his eyes peeled for their upcoming visitor. He was so busy looking around the trees that he didn't notice the bubbles that started to form in the lake.

This did not escape Saria's attention, and when she saw what was going on, she immediately called out, "Logan! The lake!"

As one, all of them looked at the lake just to see the surface explode. Under the control of gravity, the water fell back down, only this time revealing that which had appeared. The very sight took everyone by surprise.

Sitting on a flat circular island was a large, muscular man and a wolf-like creature beside him. He was sitting with his legs crossed, both hands placed on his knees in a state of mediation. A brown shawl covered his shoulders while the hood connected to it shrouded his face. The rest of his clothes consisted of what looked like a ceremonial robe with gold lining and symbols torn in half, leaving his upper body exposed. A staff bearing an intricate wooden design with a beautiful white orb attached to it laid in front of him. The entity's skin was even darker than Logan's, matching the very colours of the darkness. They heard him emitting a deep breath before he opened his eyes, revealing twin white lights that seemed to stare right through their souls. The sunlight reflecting off of the water that had latched onto him from his resurface made him appear as though he was a god.

The wolf itself was also a strange creature. Its fur was a mixture of black and blue and had two tendrils coming out of its black 'mane', bearing a similar appearance to the ones from Logan's Soul Form. A red coloured stone was on both 'arms', casting out a red glow when the sunlight reflected it. Its black snout sniffed the air a few times while its long, bushy tail began to sway across the ground. Its eyes appeared to be closed, looking like nothing but two black slits on its blue furry face. One of its ears shook as it detected the sound of the group's breathing and turned its head towards them.

The being reached a hand out and scratched the wolf behind its neck, watching as tilted its head to allow him to pet it easily. He then turned his attention to the group and picked up his staff before proceeding to stand up. Once he was at full height, the being stepped forward.

Red expected to see the strange man's foot sink into the lake the moment it made contact, but to his amazement, as well as the others, it didn't. The foot was on top of the lake's surface like it was solid ground. He stepped forward with his other foot, removing himself from the island completely. With each step he took, he moved closer and closer to the group before his feet soon made contact with the grassy shoreline. The wolf took a few steps back before it pounced forward, doing just the same as its master and landed perfectly on top of the water. The wolf pounced again and again, closing the distance even faster than the man, and landing beside him on the shore. It shook its fur and sat down again, glancing at each member of the group.

Now that he was close enough for them to see, Logan took notice just how tall the being was. He towered over him like a giant, somewhere around twice his height, and he could see the almost skeletal-like structure that his face bore. His black hair reached below his shoulders and had two tufts that formed his front bangs in front of his face. There was another thing that Logan took notice now that the being was close enough, and it was enough to make his blood boil.

On his upper right arm were the outlines of the Mark of the Endless, burnt from the flesh by a fiery grip.

The Endless closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, immediately noticing the crisp, clean air. The wide mixture of smells, from the dirt to the trees themselves and then down to the lake, brought a smile upon his face. He let out a breath of relief and soon spoke. As he did, his mouth began to move in motion with his words, something that Logan had rarely seen an Endless do. _-Ah… It has been so long since I last walked the earth. The scent… it is different now, but I can still smell the ones that I have smelted a millennium ago. The world itself feels different as well, like the darkness had consumed a part of it.-_ He looked down at the group of Vanguards and humans and bowed with one hand against his chest, _-My apologies. It has been ages since my companion and I have hid ourselves within the lake. I am Seth and this,-_ His hand moved over to the wolf that sat beside him, _-is my companion, Shinobi.-_

The wolf barked in response. It too bore the Mark of the Endless, only this one was on its forehead. It too was burnt right off.

Saria stared at Seth in astonishment. His size and appearance was intimidating to say the least, and he certainly had that air around him that screamed Endless. But when she looked up at his eyes, she could see wisdom behind those white walls. And something that she had never seen in an Endless before... Honour.

While she was confused about the idea of an Endless having such an emotion, she bowed to him respectfully, much to Logan's shock, and spoke to him in a kind and welcoming manner. "It is an honour to be in your presence, Great Judge. Though I had never pictured you to be an Endless."

The Endless laughed calmly and knelt down to one knee in front of her before replying in the same tone, _-As it is for me to be in the presence of a Guide. Though, I must confess, I envisioned you to be a little older than you are now.-_ He diverted his attention over to Red and Yellow, who were staring at him with a mix of awe and fear. _-Nor did I expect Humans to have accompanied you and the Warrior.-_

The Guide mentally slapped herself for forgetting about the trainers and introduced them to him, "Forgive me for not introducing them earlier; this is Red and Yellow. They're both denizens of this world. The Viridian Forest is also Yellow's home."

_-Ah… I see.-_ He cast his white pupiless eyes at Yellow and leaned his head forward to get a better look at her, _-So you are a child of the Viridian Forest, blessed with its miracles.-_ He placed a long, bony finger underneath her chin and turned her head, taking note of her facial features. His touch was cold yet also warm at the same time. _-Yes, you do bear a resemblance to a child of the forest I have once known. Your heart may be young, but there is no mistaking the love and loyalty you have to your friends. An admirable trait for one at your age.-_

Yellow's face blushed a slight shade of red at the compliment. It felt so weird for an Endless to compliment her. But at the same time, it felt normal.

"HEY!"

All eyes moved over to Logan at the sound of his voice. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, and it shocked him knowing that his friends were falling for such an obvious act. "Have you all forgotten that this is an Endless we're dealing with?! This thing can't be whatever it is that Saria called it!"

Saria was about to scold Logan for insulting the Judge once again before said Endless stood up and slowly walked over to him. Logan cast a fierce glare at the Endless as he was now right in front of him.

Seth looked over at Logan, taking note of the scars that lined his body and how he truly was in his heart. He was surprised upon what he discovered, but he kept silent about it and spoke out loud. _-You are Logan Stone, the Vanguard who has taken the mantle of Warrior after Vitaru, correct?-_

His gaze never faltered its glare, and he responded with anger seething in his voice, "Yes."

_-Then you are aware as to why you have been summoned.-_ Seth hopped back, giving a lot of distance between him and Logan. He spun the staff in his hand before slamming the bottom end of it onto the ground. He stood tall and proud like a knight, ready to fight.

Logan said nothing and took a few steps forward, spinning both swords as he did. Before he could take another step, Saria stepped in and placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to hold him back for a moment to tell him something, "Logan, I understand that you want to fight against him, but you must listen to me; Seth is no _regular_ Endless. He has spent more than a thousand years waiting for your arrival, and has more than likely spent that time preparing himself for this moment. He may be too powerful for you to face." Her hands moved over to his left hand and held it tightly, her concern very evident on her eyes. "Plus, you are still injured from your last fight. If you do not stop this and wait until you are fully restored, then you might not be able to survive this fight."

She immediately felt the intensity of his glare fall upon her as he wrenched his shoulder free from her grasp. She could see that his temper was already at its peak, and that he was struggling in holding it back for her safety. The air grew silent around them before the Endless broke it.

_-Your Guide speaks the truth, Warrior. In your current state, you may not be able to survive the Test. It is not too late for you to back down and wait until you have grown stronger.-_

A surge of anger swept across Logan as he barred his teeth at him, "I'm not backing down like a coward. You're an Endless, and all Endless bleed the same way. You're no exception."

Saria's eyes widen as she took a few steps back, knowing what was about to happen. Yellow stepped forward after how long she and Red had remained silent and shouted at him, "Logan, I really think you should listen to them. Fighting in your state is suicide! You can't help people if you get killed!"

The swords sliced the ground and before anyone knew it, Logan charged at the Endless, "Then I'll just have to make sure I win this fight!"

He was a few feet away from Seth before the Endless threw up his staff and blocked both swords, then immediately followed it up with a swift backhand. He was flown back a few feet before he slowed down to a halt. He raised his hand up and wiped it across his mouth, a trail of blood already escaping from his lips.

Seeing him in trouble, the two trainers stepped forward to help, only to be stopped right away by the wolf, Shinobi. The wolf stared at them with its closed eyes, the two tendrils being moved by the wind that had suddenly arrived. Saria joined them, knowing full well that she would be of no help for this fight, and watched with worry as Logan charged at the ancient Endless again.

The orb on Seth's staff glowed in a brown mist as the bottom end of the staff slammed against the ground. Right upon contact, the earth in front of the Endless exploded in a massive shockwave, a flurry of rocks rising up to the air before falling back down. Logan jumped onto one of the closer rocks and jumped over the whole attack. He wasn't in the clear just yet, for the Endless soon began to fire lightning bolt after lightning bolt at him. Thinking quickly, he twisted his body around and avoided most of the lightning, but a few manage to hit him in the arm and the chest. As soon as he landed, his hand darted to the spot on his arm where he got struck.

He had to admit, the Endless had good aim. But Logan knew he had better aim. He got back up on his feet and threw out several fireballs at his foe. The Endless merely swatted them aside with his staff.

Seth raised his hand up as it began to glow blue and in response, dozens of ice spikes appeared over him. With a single motion of his hand, the spikes homed in on Logan. He hopped, rolled and moved some more, avoiding each and every spike that flew at him. Some of them came dangerously close to impaling him, but he dodged them nonetheless. A smile was on Logan's face, wondering if this was all the Endless had.

That was what he thought, until he saw a giant ball of darkness over the Endless' hand.

He cursed underneath his breath as the Judge fired the dark ball at him. With it now released, the orb rocketed towards Logan at breakneck speed, making him curse again. There was no way he could avoid something that large at that speed. Thinking quickly, he placed both swords side by side and began to imbue them with fire. When he knew that it was fully charged, he swung the swords at a perfect vertical arc and watched as a fiery wave appeared and sliced through the Endless' attack. It exploded in a dark mist, forcing Logan to shield his eyes from the dust. He opened his eyes to begin searching for his foe, only to see him right at his face. He had no time to counter as the Endless struck him in the chest with a palm strike.

The palm carried a terrifying amount of strength, even greater than Logan's. Added with a powerful gale of wind that was imbued with the hand, and it was enough to make Logan think that his entire chest might have been destroyed by that one attack. He was blown back at a ridiculous speed, stopping only when he slammed against the tree. The tree was unprepared for the sudden force and its trunk shattered. The two swords were released from his grip and landed several feet in front of him. Shaking, Logan shook the pain away and reached out to grab his weapons. His hand was only an inch away from the closest one before it was suddenly encased in ice. His head darted up to face Seth, whose hand was shrouded in the blue mist again.

_-You are relying too much on the use of weapons to fight, and as such you are restraining yourself both physically and mentally.-_ He said very calmly, despite being in the middle of a fight. _-For the time being, let us see how fare without them.-_

The Vanguard gritted his teeth. _So you want me to play rough, huh? Fine then! _He thought as his hands began to shroud themselves in fiery mists before lunging at Seth. He closed the distance between them immediately and started to whale on him, launching punch after punch at the Endless, intent on bringing it down. Every now and then, he would add in a kick or two in an attempt to confuse the Endless or stun it long enough to finish it off for good.

It didn't go in his favour, though. The Endless brought his free hand up and blocked each attack in rapid succession. Each block was telegraphed precisely as no matter what Logan threw at the Endless, it would just bounce harmlessly off his hand. After blocking yet another twist kick, he countered. Mists of darkness surged across his arm before he teleported, confusing Logan for a moment before appearing behind him. With his guard down, Seth delivered a powerful elbow strike on Logan's back, just over the spinal cord. A flash of violet-black appeared first, then an explosion of darkness, knocking Logan back even further.

Saria could only watch in horror as Logan was helplessly thrown like a ragdoll across the clearing before landing in the lake. The fight had barely started and already her friend was getting trashed like a stuffed animal. She knew that this was a bad idea from the start. Why didn't he listen to her?

She looked over at the trainers and saw that they were also wondering the same thing, only their expressions were much worse than hers. This was more than likely the first time that they were witnessing an enemy being able to withstand against Logan. In this case though, the Endless was not only stronger, but faster and smarter as well, not to mention having millennium's worth of knowledge on magic and elements crammed in his head. This was definitely a fight Logan can't win, not even if he was fully recovered.

Logan pulled himself out of the lake, letting out a menacing growl as he did. One of his hands was wrapped around his chest while the other was trying to push himself up. He had been in worst situations before, but this was by far the worst of them all. He had not even succeeded in landing a single hit on the Endless, and so far the thing had blocked everything he threw at it and unleashed every element in existence at him. He hated to admit, but Saria was right. He had no chance of winning this fight if he kept this up.

Through his blurry vision, he could see the Endless standing right in front of him and hearing it tsk out loud. _-I had expected much from you, Logan. I had been hoping to see a Warrior who, despite being younger than the previous ones, had learned much in the short span of time that he earned the title. So far, I am disappointed in what I have seen.-_ He began to pace around, mulling out the thoughts that were in his mind. _-You are allowing your temper to control you and your actions, making you think irrationally and with no hesitation. As a result of your temper, you are fighting and behaving like a wild animal, constantly trying to bring down your opponent with swift, yet savage attacks. You are even refusing to use some of your strongest powers, most of them being your control over darkness, against me. That power is your true strength lies, and will help you recover from your injuries much faster when alongside the light. _

_ -Furthermore,-_ He stopped pacing and pointed the staff downward at him, _-Your heart is dangerously close to succumbing to the darkness that lies within you. You have allowed anger and sorrow to fill what is nothing but a never ending void in your heart. I have seen your progress ever since you and your friends have left your world. I have watched as you saved countless lives and helped your friends with whatever they needed. Why are you hiding that side of you with this one, where you let your anger turn you into a ruthless and merciless Warrior towards your enemies?-_

Logan growled threateningly at the Endless. "You wouldn't understand."

_-On the contrary, I do. Tell me, what is the source of your anger? What has compelled you to become the Vanguard that you are now? Is it because you fear that using the darkness will eventually turn you into the very creatures you fight against? Is it because of your concern for your friends that you try to protect them from the forces of darkness and the other evils that exist?-_

"Shut up..." Logan mumbled out quietly. He knew where this was going and if the Endless was smart, it would stop right away.

Unfortunately for him, the Endless did not stop there, _-Perhaps it is because of the fate that Leira Myers was about to face at the hands of Ark that had driven your anger to the edge, and what he had done to her parents and her village?-_

What Seth was doing did not escape Red's notice. He turned around to face Saria and said, "What's he doing? It's like he's trying to make Logan crack or something?"

"He is," She said sadly, "And it is working."

The claws on Logan's right hand dug themselves into the ground, trying desperately to hold back the fury that was coming. "Shut up." He repeated, his voice cracking. He could feel his chest aching in pain as his anger started to take over. For a second, he thought he heard Nexus laughing in the background.

Seth placed a hand underneath his chin as he noticed the sudden change within Logan. _-No… perhaps it is none of those reasons. Such anger and malice could have only been created by an experience that was too traumatic for someone to bear.- _The wind had suddenly died and the air grew colder than it was before. The entirety of the forest became silent, as though it was holding its breath for what was about to happen. _-Perhaps… the true source of your anger… was because of what happened to Lucy Stone.-_

Logan's left eye shifted to a solid blood red as he threw himself at the Endless, screaming out in fury. "SHUT UP!"

The Endless was caught off guard by Logan's burst of speed and was punched squared in the face. He could feel the iron touch of the metallic knuckles digging into his face and was flown back. His feet skidded along the grass until they came to a halt. The pain subsided shortly as it appeared and he looked back at the Vanguard. He could see the symbols around his body glowing crimson, and his posture was more bestial and erratic.

_-So that is it then.-_ Seth stated with such seriousness in his voice, _-It is because of that event that had happened in the past, that one event that had changed your live forever. The loss of Lucy was what kindled the flames of hatred within you towards the evil that has plagued all of life!-_

"Don't say her name, you wretched demon!" Logan cried out, the fiery malice ever present in his voice, "You have no right to say her name! It was the Endless who took her away from me, and it will be the Endless who will suffer by my hand!"

The Endless shook his head and continued, _-You must come to accept that what had transpired years ago was beyond your control. You were merely a child. You had no idea what to do, nor did you ever have the chance to ever defeat a Hunter. You cannot put yourself to blame for something that Lucy had decided for herself.-_

"Stop saying her name! You're saying it as though she wanted to die!"

_-It is YOU who wants to die, Logan, not her!- _He shouted back at him. The others on the side jumped in shock in response to the ancient Endless' shout. He sounded even more terrifying when angered. _-Ever since her death, you have let the darkness take control of everything you have done, of everything that you have thought! You have wanted nothing more than to take your own life to escape from the pain that you were feeling, and from the lies and misconception that your inner demon spouting on to you! You have even come close to doing so… but something stopped you from finishing it. What was it, Logan? What was it that made you stop and continue living out your life?-_

A surge of energy burst around Logan and exploded the ground beneath him as he charged at Seth. "ENOUGH!" He shot forth like a rocket and had his arms reared back, claws fully engulfed in a raging inferno.

He came within breathing distance of Seth, ready to sink his fingers into the Endless' flesh, before a large hand shot forth and grabbed him around the head. In the seconds that he was restrained by the iron grip, darkness began to spread from the arm onto Logan's face. He cried out in agony as the Endless released him, letting Logan writhe around as he could feel the darkness seeping into his mind. Mists escaped between his fingers, making it look as though his face was being melted. The pain was unbearable to him. It felt like it was killing him in the most agonizing way possible, but in reality he knew that that wasn't what it was doing.

Saria saw it happened and paniced, "Logan!" She turned to Seth and glared at him, her anger towards him very clear in her eyes, "What did you do to him?!"

_-I have done nothing wrong.-_ The Endless answered truthfully, _-All I did was open up the part of Logan's memory that he has desperately tried to hide from the world for many years. The memory will be transmitted as an illusion around us, letting all those who are present witness the event that had gave rise to his temper and hatred towards darkness.-_

She quickly caught on to what he was saying and gasped out loud, "You mean… You are making him relive…" Her entire face paled as she shook her head wildly at him, "No! You must not let Logan go through that again! Anything but that!"

_-He has forced my hand to do so. He must face it sooner or later. Otherwise, the memory and all the pain and agony he has felt will eventually be too much for him, and then… You know what will happen if it continues.-_

An ear-splitting scream came out of Logan's mouth and within moments, a large, spherical dome made of light appeared all around them. The world began to twist and change as the Vanguard dropped to one knee, the pain suddenly growing worse. The sky shifted to a cloudy grey sky and a gale of wind began to stir around them, almost blowing Yellow's hat off had she not reacted in time to keep it firmly in place. The grass beneath them shifted and moved, creating a lone hill that had a large oak tree on top of it. Neighbouring houses, roads and streets appeared around the spot of land as more trees took their place beside them. A grinding metallic sound stood above all other noise as a structure of pipes, slides and ladders came to life in a sea of pebbles. Everyone watched in dismay as the Viridian Forest transformed into a place extracted from Logan's memory.

The moment the pain had subsided was the moment that Logan dared himself to look up at what happened. The familiarity of the place struck him hard as more and more memories began to appear in his head.

This was his neighbourhood. This was his home.

A hand reached up to his head as he could a twinge of pain appearing. No… This couldn't be his home. Earth was gone… consumed by darkness. If it was Earth, it would have been devastated and twisted into a shadow of its former self. But the houses, the trees, even the play structure; they were all here, all in perfect detail. It was like nothing had ever happened.

Voices could be heard from close by, prompting everyone to look over and see who it was. Nearing the play structure were four kids, two male and two female, all of them at a different age based on their appearance. Yellow easily identified the girl known as Lucy, for she had the same long black hair as the girl from her dream, but now she wore a white sundress and headband. The other kids were a complete mystery to her; one who was more likely the oldest and spouting out insults to the younger boy, while a younger was laughing at the sight of the two boys yelling at each other.

Yellow's eyes widen when she saw the younger boy. That boy… It couldn't be… "Red, do those kids look familiar to you?" She asked him.

He pondered for a moment as he looked at each one. A spark of recognition appeared in his mind and he proclaimed out loud, "They do! Those are the same kids from the photo that Logan showed us!" His eyes moved from Yellow back to the group of kids, and much like her; noticed the younger boy. "Which means that that kid over there is–"

"Logan." Saria finished for him, half in shock and half surprised. She couldn't believe it. They were seeing a part of Logan's past; the root of his rage.

They watched in silence as the group of kids began making their way over to the play structure. The older boy and younger girl climbed up the structure and proceeded to go down the slide, while the younger boy began to swing from the monkey bars and the older girl watched him go. Both trainers had smiles on their faces, seeing nothing wrong about this memory at all. But Saria knew better than anyone, and she had a feeling that Seth did as well. It started out like this when she looked into his mind, but eventually the truth will reveal itself and they will see why he never wanted anyone to know of this.

At that moment, when she saw Logan clutching onto his head and the memory suddenly shifting to a different scene, she knew that it was starting.

The sky darkened enough to make it look as though night had rolled in, even though it was late afternoon, and the wind was now dangerously fast. The kids stopped playing and looked up at the sky, wondering what was going on. A fork of lightning stretched across the sky, followed up by the booming drums of thunder, scaring the younger kids easily. They started to climb down from the structure, focusing on getting home before the sudden storm grew worse. From the side, Yellow held her straw hat in place to keep the wind from blowing it off, as did Red. Saria had her arms over her head to keep the rain from hitting her face, but Seth and Shinobi merely stood there, watching the event beginning to unfold.

Logan looked up and saw the storm clouds growing worse. His eyes widened in fear as his gaze immediately fell onto the older girl. "No…" He said quietly, the fear very clear in his tone. He began to shake his head and started off in a sprint towards them, screaming out a constant 'No' as he did.

Yellow began to wonder what it was that got Logan so worked up before she heard it. A demonic roar that pierced the rolling thunderous cries of the storm and whispered with malice inside her mind. That sound… She heard it before… during one of her nightmares where she was being chased by a…

She immediately looked up at the play structure to where the source of the sound came from. She froze in her place. There it was. The very same monster that had appeared in her nightmare. Its massive, blood drenched claws curled alongside the edge of the structure, gazing at the group of kids with its beady red eyes. Its skin camouflaged it perfectly in the storm, making them see nothing but the eyes once they saw it. The long tail thrashed around behind it, and before anyone knew it, the monster roared and hopped off the structure, landing perfectly. It slowly rose up to its full height and looked down at them, its thirst for blood rising as more drool oozed between its knife teeth. When another lightning flashed, the creature's entire appearance could be seen in that one moment.

Saria's eyes widen in shock upon seeing its full appearance. "The Hunter…" The word seemed to be enough to clench most of their hearts with fear, and for a good reason.

The Hunter roared out as it began to charge at the kids, claws fully extended. Logan was almost on it before he stopped suddenly and clutched onto his head again. The headache had returned, only it came back in full force. Writing in agony, Logan could do nothing but watch as the kids scrambled away from the Hunter. It was like he was being held back by invisible chains. He could see that the memory now began to skip ahead a few times. Every time it skipped, he could hear a distortion of static, and could see things that weren't supposed to be there, like the gnarled crosses and the blood red moon.

By now the memory became worse for what was happening and all everyone could do was watch in sheer horror. The younger Logan was on his back, breathing heavily as he had one arm wrapped around his chest to stop the bleeding from the three large gashes that were there, and the other hand facing where the Endless once was. Saria recognized the attack as a Shock Force, a powerful attack that created a shockwave in front of the user and pushing everything in its path away from him. The other kids were either on the ground, unconscious from the beast using its tail, or had simply run off. The sounds of churning metal occurred through the storm and the Hunter burst out of its so-called prison. A flash of fury appeared in its eyes as it began to sharpen its claws against one another. It was preparing to kill Logan now that he had no chance of running.

Young Logan crawled back as the creature took a few steps towards him, savouring the sight of watching its prey fearing it. It raised its right hand up, rubbing the claws against one another before it opened its hand completely. The claws grew even longer, matching half the size of its entire arm. It crouched down, focusing all muscles on its legs as it focused all attention on the child. It's flicked hungrily outside its red maw, and in seconds the Endless pounced.

Time began to slow down to everyone as they watched the creature edging closer and closer to the younger Logan, its demonic roar reaching to the very depths of their minds. Yellow at this point was right against Red and had her hands covering her mouth, before closing her eyes tightly. Saria felt a sense of dread creeping up her throat at the sight of seeing this event unfold once more. Instinctively, her hands had went up to her ears to muffle out the horrible screams coming from the Endless.

Logan, on the other hand, knew better than anyone what was about to happen. He looked over at where Lucy was and saw her small body slowly rising up before she ran over to his younger self. He could hear nothing but the sound of his own heartbeat, beating slower and more heavily with each second that felt almost like an eternity. Soon, his own rage took over and in one quick motion, he broke free of whatever was holding him back and ran to the Endless. He was not going to let this happen again. He was not going to lose her again. The darkness within his heart expanded greatly as his body began to glow crimson. A blood-curdling scream escaped his lips in contrast to the Endless' more demonic roar.

He finally got to his younger self and Lucy in time and stood between her and the Endless just as the monster itself plunged its hand forward. The claws were now right in front of Logan as fire began to billow between his teeth. He had been waiting for this moment his whole life, to finally slay the very Endless that destroyed his whole life and took one of the few people he cared about. He closed his eyes tight as he waited for the claws to impale him through the chest.

Red instinctively buried Yellow's face within his arms and shut his eyes tightly, not wanting either of them to see this.

The sound of flesh being impaled towered over the pitter-patter sound of rain and booming thunder, the screams of a child following soon after. Saria's breath hitched as she felt her heart come to a stop.

Logan remained motionless where he was, confused and frightened. He definitely heard the sound of flesh being torn, but strangely enough he didn't feel a thing. He opened his eyes slightly to see why this was the case and saw the Hunter breathing heavily right in front of his face. The sight of a face so terrifying and up close to his would have convinced Logan to just kill it, but he needed to see what was going on. His eyes lowered to where the Endless' arm was, followed its length until he was now looking down at himself. By then, fear immediately took over.

The arm had not impaled him in any way. It was simply going right through him, as though he was never there. It wasn't until he remembered a child screaming and knew who that belonged to. He slowly turned around, though he wished he hadn't, because as soon as he saw the rest of the Endless' arm, both his heart and brain completely froze all function.

His younger self was on the ground, tears streaming down his face, and in front of him was Lucy. His older sister, the girl who had looked after him since their mother died…

With all five of the Hunter's claws pierced through her chest.

His eyes began to shake as he uttered out a single, quiet no. He could see Lucy raising her head up, looking up at him almost as though he was there, and said something that would forever haunt him.

"Why… didn't you… help… me?"

A few tears began to fall along the sides of his face as he could hear nothing but his heart once more. "…no…" He quietly muttered. Behind him, he could still hear the Hunter breathing against him before it made another sound. It was long and constant, like someone was laughing. Then it hit him. The Endless was laughing at him.

Laughing at him.

_Laughing at him._

The thought made his anger surge beyond measures and he whirled around, screaming at the Endless. "NNNOOOO!"

In an instant, everything in front of Logan exploded in black fire. At the same time as he did, the illusionary world around him shattered and faded into the blackened realm that he was all too familiar with. Memories began to pour in as his anger became too much for him to handle and he slumped down to his knees. Voices and images of every moment in his life appeared all around him and the others. Some of the voices Yellow recalled hearing a few days ago, but at the time she never took them into consideration since they didn't make any sense to her. Now, after learning the truth, they were starting to become clear:

_ The boy is unable to tell the difference between what is real and what is illusion…_

_ Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of…_

_ He hasn't been himself since the incident…_

_ …continually blames himself for it and has locked himself with all his grieving…_

_ …anger is growing worse by the day…_

_ I don't need anyone's sympathy._

_ He has come to call the being as 'Nexus'…_

_ I don't need anyone's help!_

_ Logan, why won't you let us help you! We're you're friends! _

_ Friends!_

_ I just… want to be left alone…_

_ The heart is nothing but food and to be experimented on. And sometimes, to be crushed by those who are superior._

_ Want to be… alone…_

_ Alone…_

_ Alone…_

Everyone darted their heads around as they gazed up at the memories and continued to listen to the voices some more. Whenever they thought that one was finished, two more would suddenly appear in its place. It wasn't until they heard one voice that dominated all the others, and the familiarity behind it brought a shiver along Yellow's spine.

_ Don't worry… I'm always here for you… What are 'friends' for? Hahahahaha!_

_ If the pain is too much for you to handle, then why not simply kill yourself? That way, you'll be free from the nightmares, from the pain… from me._

_ So she is the reason why you choose to live… I should have known…_

_ Your mother died before you even had the chance to know her… You're older sister died to save your pitiful life from that monster years ago… The girl of your dreams says goodbye to you and leaves you all alone once again… How many more people must leave your life for you to finally understand that it no longer matters whether you live or not? Why continue to suffer when you can simply do what I had told you and escape from it all? End your pain and suffering and be free from it all!_

_ End it!_

_ END IT!_

Logan threw his head back and screamed out before slamming both fists onto the ground. The sudden action stopped the flow of memories and reverted the world around them back to the Viridian Forest. The startled cries of Pokémon could be heard in the distance until they eventually died down. The only sound that they could hear was the sound of crying coming from the Vanguard, whose face was buried behind his arms. His rage had disappeared since the mass of memories, leaving nothing but a broken and traumatized person in their place.

Seth had seen enough and walked up to Logan, bending down to one knee to inspect the Warrior. He sighed heavily and guided his hand to the top of Logan's head. _-Warrior… You must have been aware of what would happen if you had stored all your negative emotions inside of you. Why would you continue to hold onto these feelings?-_

He didn't raise his head, but he could still be heard clearly to the Endless, "Because it's all I have… of remembering her… It's my fault that she's dead… It should have been me… not her… Not Lucy…"

_-What was so special about her that could ever make you think that?-_

"She wasn't just my sister… She was like a mother to me… She raised me by herself and taught me everything… We became even closer than siblings… We became best friends… She was all three of those things… a sister, a mother, a friend…"

_-So you weep because you not only lost the person who was a beloved sister to you, you had lost the same one who was a close friend to and a protective mother.-_ The Endless tilted his head in sadness and patted Logan on the head, _-I had never intended to make you feel such pain, Logan. All I wanted to do was to help you become stronger. Instead, I have made it worse. And for that, I am sorry.-_

He didn't hear Logan responding to him. All he heard from him was more tears. The Endless rose up to his feet and turned to walk back towards the group, who had all come closer to Logan to see if he was alright. Seth motioned for Saria to speak to him alone while the two trainers watched the Vanguard grieve even more. Despair and sorrow clung to their hearts, and within moments, Yellow began to shed a few tears at the horrible sight.

"Logan…" She said quietly as more tears began to fall.

Unbeknownst to her, the wind slowly started to pick up speed until it began to ruffle the top of the trees. She opened her eyes and looked up to see a flock of Spearows and Fearows flying overhead, and the cries from other Pokémon in the distance becoming more agitated. When she and Red became fully aware at the sudden changes, they both looked over at Logan.

The wind that was surrounding Logan was moving faster and faster until it formed a miniature tornado around him. It had also began to turn black and loose, resembling dark mists. Red and orange fire glowed jet-black as it began to appear underneath Logan's feet, and soon appeared as fiery explosions around him. Shinobi called out to its master as things started to get worse. Saria gasped out loud when she and Seth saw what was happening to Logan. A shimmering sound appeared once more and the same barrier of light appeared around them, only this time it began to darken, and the only image that they saw was a disembodied, fiendish head that cackled with twisted laughter, followed up by the distorted sound of static.

The moment Logan's conscious was slowly returning to him was the moment when he realized what was happening to him and clutched onto the sides of his head.

And then… he screamed.

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><p><strong>(AN: The next chapter is without a doubt my favourite one, and you will soon see why. For now, I hope you have enjoyed reading this chapter and I will see you in the next one.**

**Reviews and critiques are always welcome.)**


	22. Corruption II: Descent Into Despair

**(A/N: I have nothing to say, other than the fact that this took way too long to finish. I want to thank you all for being very patient with me, and I deeply apologize for the long wait. I promise that this won't happen again.**

**Lot of personal complaints about this one, mainly towards the end. I honestly feel like I could have done a better job on it, and maybe not make it so 'cliche' or unoriginal, since I'm pretty sure that this has happened in other books or shows. I don't know, nor do I honestly care. The short version: I hate this chapter, simply because of how much time it took to make it. You guys may say otherwise, but I'm not entirely sure about it myself.**

**If you guys listen to music while reading, I highly recommend you listen to this during the fight sequence. It's merely a recommendation, as you guys might have something else on your playlist that might suit the setting very well.**

**_[/watch?v=4H5zOJnxBHc on YouTube]_)**

**~ Neoshadow574**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 21: Corruption Part II: Descent Into Despair<strong>

It all happened so fast. The screaming, the distorting static, the fiery explosions dancing across the emerald field, the single image of the disembodied head on the barrier dissolving into dozens of others; it was all happening in such short amount of time. Everyone could do nothing but watch in horror as Logan's twin coloured eyes, the eyes that seemed to draw out a sense of hope to all who looked upon them, began to shine like beacons before they gradually faded into darkness.

Slowly, the dark mists that circled around Logan's thrashing form closed the distance and seeped into his left eye, corroding it bit by bit into a sickly purple colour. The same thing began to happen to his other eye, though the process took longer to finish. Within the last few moments, a burst of dark energy flew from Logan's body, knocking everyone back before the entire top half of his body hunched over, his face looking down on the ground.

At first, nobody dared to say anything as an uncomfortable silence began to settle in. That was until Saria began to take a few steps towards her friend before kneeling down in front of him. She saw more tears running down his face and grew even more worried.

"…Logan?" She said his name as she instinctively reached a hand out to him.

The static returned again, this time quiet and degrading to the ear. It had quickly replaced the silence that had overlapped the forest and set everyone on high alert. Wicked laughter followed soon after, sounding as though it was both near and far. New images began to appear in relation with the previous ones, ranging from bleeding faces to shambling corpses, gnarled crosses and a shadowy figure, each one appearing in a split second.

Yellow identified the sounds and images and stepped back, her eyes wide with fear. "No… Not again."

Her legs began to weaken and she stumbled backwards, only to be caught by Red and brought closer to him. He noticed how pale she was becoming and quickly asked her, "Yellow! What's wrong with you? What's happening?"

She shook her head and covered her eyes with her hands, saying only one word to him. It may not have been much, but it was that one word that was enough to give even the Champion of Kanto a chill along his spine.

"_Him._"

Upon cue, the dark mists appeared around Logan and slammed down on the ground beside him in a spiraling column, disappearing as fast as lightning. As soon as it vanished, a figure stood where it was, unknown to most of them save for a few, who easily recognized that creepy smile of his.

Saria sprang back the moment she saw him and summoned her weapon. She twirled it in her hand before pointing the blade at him. For the first time since she came to this world, her eyes flashed in anger and her voice was so laced with venom that it was as if she had completely changed personalities.

"Nexus." She said as her eyes never left their iron-fisted glare from him.

The apparition began to chuckle out loud before he spoke. The very moment his voice echoed within their minds and from faraway, they could feel their hearts sinking in fear, _-Finally… After all these years, it has finally happened. Logan is now under _MY _control!- _He looked at the people assembled in front of him, his hollow eyes jumping from one to the other. He saw Yellow in Red's arms and smiled that sinister grin of his. _-Ah, Yellow. Or should I call you Amarillo del Bosque Verde? Frankly, I believe that to be a bit more formal than calling you after a colour. How's it going with you and Red? I hope my little scare sessions haven't prevented you from going 'all the way' with dense boy here! Ahahahahahahaha!-_

Yellow felt a flare of anger inside of her, as did Red who kept a steel glare on him. But it was Saria who snapped and expressed it by trying to stab him in the face. "You sick, twisted, malevolent bast-!"

She never finished her sentence, for the blade phased right through him. As soon as she realized this, Nexus smirked at her and hit her with a blast of darkness from the palm of his hand. She held the staff up and blocked the attack just in time. Her feet skidded across the grass before she came to a halt beside Seth. She set herself in a fighting stance again, but a sharp pain on her chest quickly made her lose it. It seemed the attack did more damage than she originally thought.

Nexus lowered his hand back to his side and tsked. _-Language, little missy. Who knew you had such a vulgar side?-_

Saria gritted her teeth and pointed the weapon back at him, this time charging it up with light energy. "Let. Logan. Go." She threatened.

_-And what, ruin the surprise? I'd rather not.-_ Nexus laughed again before making his way over to Logan. He casually lifted his hand up and moved it so that it hovered just above his left shoulder.

"Stay away from him!" Saria shouted as the light intensified.

The nightmare paid no attention and placed the hand on his shoulders, patting it as though he was trying to comfort the broken Vanguard. _-It really is tragic, you know; having to relive the pain and sorrow of your entire life in a matter of seconds. I can almost sympathize for the poor boy. Hehehe… 'Almost'.-_

_-The Guide has demanded that you release her friend, Demon.-_ Seth spoke up as he took a step forward, his hand already brimming with ice, _-Whatever your intentions are with him, they will never work.-_

_-I have a feeling they will, especially since Logan here will help me make it happen.-_

The words caught Saria's attention right away, "What are you talking about?"

_-Oh, I thought you'd never ask!-_ The fiend said as happily as a little kid getting a new toy and removed his hand from Logan's shoulder, leaving a sickly coloured mist there in contrast with the black one that surrounded him. He moved around, talking as though he was talking to a close friend, _-Ever since poor little Logan here lost his precious sister years ago, he had kept all of his negative emotions bottled up inside of him. Anger, sorrow, hatred, pain; every possible emotion you can imagine. What he didn't know was that having all those emotions stored up resulted in my 'birth'. Since then, I have been making every attempt to guide him away from the threshold of life and escape his pain through the simple method of suicide. But he proved to be very resilient, even in the state that he was in.-_

_-So I came up with a plan, one that I knew would surely work over time. It simply involved me putting him through various nightmares and hallucinations in order to break him down to a more 'favourable' level. It worked quite well… but at the cost of increasing his bottled up aggression. By the time I realized what was happening, his rage had broken free and developed a mental barrier that prevented me from going any further with my plan.-_

_-But the damage had already been done. All Logan needed in order for me to have full control over him is one, simple memory – a little jog of the mind to make him remember the very day that created the beast within him. And I have Seth to thank for that.-_ He heard the Endless growling underneath his breath before he continued, _-Everything was going all according to plan, before a certain… pest decided to interfere.-_

He vanished and reappeared in less than a second in front of Red and Yellow, leaning so close to them that they could see the mad-inducing lights glowing ever so faintly inside his empty sockets. His wicked smile was as wide as a Cheshire Cat's and his gaze fell upon the Viridian trainer, mouthing out one word that sent chills all around her body.

_-You.-_

He vanished again before reappearing by Logan's side, continuing on from where he left off, _-After I heard about your friend's fancy little powers, I knew she would pose a problem to my plans. So when I sensed her reading Logan's mind through his energy, I extracted a part of myself and sent it directly into her mind, letting it torment her until she committed suicide while I dealt with the real prize. But… as I can see from the fact that she's still alive, the fragment has failed in doing so._

Red suddenly got up and grabbed a Pokéball from his belt that contained Snor, pointed it at Nexus and shouting at the top of his lungs, "So Yellow being tired for the past few day… all those times when she was looking over her shoulder… and those pills that she was taking… those were all because of you!?"

The apparition twirled his hand once before setting it on his chest, bowing as if he was in front of an audience. _-Guilty as charged.-_ He said rather cheerfully, making him sound even creepier than before. He stood up straight and moved until he was right behind Logan and placed both hands on his shoulders, grinning wildly as he did, _-Now, if you don't mind, I'm running a bit late, so I must end this conversation.-_

"Late? For what?" Saria asked, already dreading what the fiend had in mind.

_-Why, to destroy the world of course!- _He began to cackle like a madman, his hands already by his sides, _-Life is nothing but a cruel joke where you feel nothing but pain, agony, and hatred. People try to change the world as best as they can so they can never feel such pain, but it is a futile effort. No matter how hard you try to change it, or how hard you try to run away from it, death is all that awaits you in life, whether you are good or evil.-_

He tapped Logan's shoulder and added, _-While digging into his mind, I discovered the truth about Logan's origins and soon came up with an idea on how he could be of use.- _His long, rotting fingers curled up in front of him as his hollow eyes appeared to beam with glee. Eerie glee._ -Using his powers, I will the tear the balance between Light and Darkness on all worlds! Without balance, the worlds will slowly begin to degenerate into madness, and every single being in existence will soon be drawn to death to escape from it all! Imagine it! No more wars between light and darkness! No more sorrow and hatred! No more everything! Hahahahaha!-_

Saria strengthen her glare and shouted at the fiend, "There is a flaw to your plan, Nexus! A Warrior cannot generate enough power to affect the balance of the world! Even the slightest attempt to do so will kill them!"

_-True. But, since _I_ am in control of Logan, I can simply tap into his mind and make him use all that power!-_

Her eyes widen in shock and she gasped out loud. He wasn't lying. He could grant Logan as much power as he wanted if wanted to. This thing wasn't just crazy; it was borderline insane! "You… You cannot…! If you do that, then Logan will…" A mental image soon clouded her mind as she saw Logan being engulfed by his own power. The thought brought nothing but absolute horror to her and she screamed out loud, "You will not get away with this!"

_-On the contrary,-_ Nexus slowly said as the wind began to pick up speed, carrying leaves and sticks wherever it went. The sun finally disappeared into the horizon and the darkness of the night quickly rolled in. His eye sockets glowed bright enough for people to see the crimson madness that was there before they slowly faded, _-I already have.-_

The faces on the barrier become more distorted and more frequent and the sound of static becoming louder and louder with each passing second until it was now a mass of electrical discharges. Shocked, Saria looked back at Logan and saw for a split second Nexus fading away into the black mist, giving her an evil smirk that brought a chill crawling down her spine.

She tried running over to his side to help him, but was soon hit by an invisible barrier that let loose a surge of electricity across her body, forcing her back. Her feet skidded across the dirt before she plunged her weapon into the ground to slow down. When she came to a halt, she looked back at Logan… and wished to herself that she didn't.

His body began to reanimate as though he was a puppet being hung by the strings and his mouth split open to reveal the jagged maw once more, only this time it seemed to possess much sharper teeth. Screams of pain escaped from his lips as his hands grasped onto the sides of his head. More tears streamed down his face as the darkness surrounding him began to light up. Within a few moments, a dark violet coloured pillar shot upward to the sky, engulfing Logan completely.

As soon as it started, it stopped. The pillar vanished and showed Logan with his head reared back and arms on his sides. His fingers twitched slightly before his body lurched forward, his face now obscured from everyone's view. He slowly began to crawl back up to his feet, hunched over awkwardly. His head twitched for a moment before smoke billowed out from his mouth. The whole area, which was once plagued by the sounds of static, was now replaced with the sounds of breathing. Heavy breathing.

Nexus appeared again, this time in the form of a ghost, and hovered over Logan smiling like a crazed jester. He vanished back into Logan as a giant image of him appeared on one side of the barrier, speaking out words that screamed inside their heads_ -Wake up, Logan. Wake up…-_

_-It's time for the real nightmare… to begin.-_

Twin dark, violet lights flashed brightly as the owner slowly lifted his head up and looked at the people before him. The lines and symbols appeared around his body again, glowing in the same colour as his eyes. His hands clenched tightly before they opened up to reveal a set of sharp claws. He stared at his friends with no emotion whatsoever visible in his eyes.

A few dozen pools of darkness appeared on the ground all around them and erupted, releasing pillars of black fire up in the air. Logan reared his head back and let out a horrifying scream, loud enough to force everyone to cover their ears to prevent them from popping.

_AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGHHHH!_

Saria watched as Logan crouched down with one hand placed on the ground and leaped towards a tree. His claws dug into a branch and he twisted his body around until he was now perched on top of it, eyeing them like a hungry predator. A light began to seep in-between his teeth, followed moments later by smoke. He opened his mouth mechanically and soon, a giant beam shot forth right and headed straight for them.

Everyone moved out of the way just as the beam struck the ground. Saria rolled along the ground and quickly stood up, clutching her weapon tight as she glanced up at Logan. Yellow and Red, knowing full well that they wouldn't be able to stand a chance against Logan, ran to the where the trees to clear some distance from them and looked back with worry. The corrupted Vanguard leapt from his branch during the confusion and brought a foot down in an axe kick upon Seth.

The Endless caught the attack with one hand, trapping Logan in a deadlock of strength with him. His staff disappeared in his hand and was soon replaced by a surge of electricity. Sensing the immediate danger, Logan used the Endless' strength to his advantage and propelled himself over to the opposite side of the area. The enraged Vanguard looked at them roared again, causing the surface of the lake to ripple in waves in response.

Saria watched him as he began to make his way over to them. She could see the fury burning within his eyes even from where she was. The Vanguard began to panic internally and wondered out loud if she should fight her friend or try to bring back some sense into him.

_-I doubt that he will respond to reason.-_ Seth spoke up the moment he heard her, making her look up at him in confusion. He looked down at her as both his hands began to crackle with electricity, _-Escort the humans out of here, I will stay and fight Logan. He is already too far into darkness for you to do anything.-_

"But– What if you are unable to do so?" She asked him, already fearing what he was about to say.

The Endless was silent as he turned around to face Logan, his back turned to her at the same time. She couldn't see his face, but when he spoke, she took notice of the sadness that was there. _-Then the darkness will have claimed yet another valiant hero.-_

She didn't have enough time to stop him as he soon ran straight at Logan. More fiery pillars erupted as the Vanguard let out a bloodcurdling roar and charged in response to Seth's. They both met halfway and threw a powerful punch at one another, aimed at their faces. Logan's fist narrowly missed Seth's while the Endless' hit him. The attack sent him clear away from him. The Endless stretched both his hands out and two orbs of electricity soon appeared. Their size increased every second that passed until they were now too big to fit in the palm of his hands. He flicked his wrists forward and threw the electric balls like Frisbees. They flew right up to Logan and exploded seconds later. The electricity struck the ground enough times to churn up a large dust cloud.

The dust made it hard for Seth to see where Logan was. He soon spotted Logan jumping out of the dust and appearing overhead, his body glowing by the black aura. He stretched his limbs out and the aura expanded, creating multiple beams that homed in to where the Endless was. A veil of darkness appeared around Seth's arms and transformed into a set of shields, which he soon raised up to deflect the beams. Several of them hit the shields while the rest exploded on the ground around him. When the last beam disappeared, Logan curled up into a ball and let the flames consume his entire body until he was now a living fireball. He shot down like a rocket at the Endless, hitting the shields as though he was fiery buzz saw. The Vanguard's continued onslaught forced Seth to take a few steps back, but soon after he took a third step, he pushed his arms forward and threw Logan off of him.

Logan was unprepared by the sudden counter as the flames soon died down, leaving him open for attack. Seth grabbed him by the foot and then proceeded to slam him on the ground a few times before throwing him away. He impaled his hand through the ground to slow down his movement and landed back on his feet. He flicked the dirt off his claws and glared up at the Endless, seeing him set himself in a fighting stance.

At first Logan made no signs of movement, but after a few long moments his head began to shake and he reared back, roaring at the night sky above and stretched his fingers on his left hand. Darkness raced across his arm and around his fingers until they soon transformed into a large set of ghostly claws. He took a few quick strides towards him, hearing nothing but Nexus' twisted laughter and his own heartbeat and moved his claws around, the thought of impaling his enemy with them bringing a sense of lust to him.

A streak of light dashed across his line of sight between him and the Endless, stopping Logan dead in his tracks. His primal mind quickly commanded him to look over to where the light had originated from.

Saria stood there, her weapon pointed directly at him. The energy still crackled at the tip of the blade, letting him know that she was prepared to fire it again if he gave her a reason. Seth passed on a look to her that meant that she should have run, but she returned it with one of her own. No matter what, she was Logan's Guide, and it was her job to ensure his well-being. The two trainers who were out on the sidelines were now looking at them as the scene began to unfold.

"Logan! It is me, Saria! Your friend! Remember?" She shouted, hoping that hearing her voice would at least calm him down, "Listen to me, Logan! I need you to stop this! I know that you are in pain, but we are here to help you! If you let us help you, then I am positive that we will find some way to drive Nexus away from your mind so he can no longer control you!"

Yellow was watching the Vanguard talk to Logan in bewilderment. She was seriously trying to reason with him while he was like this? Was she that crazy? She caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye and turned to look. A misty veil began to surround Logan's right arm, making the outlines of it glow bright in a dark violet colour. The glow started to spread until it slowly consumed the whole arm. He reared the arm back and stretched open his claws, looking as though he was prepared to do an overhead slash. She looked back at Saria and saw that she was still trying to get through to him. She gasped out loud. She wasn't even aware of what Logan was about to do!

She didn't hesitate in the slightest as she quickly ran over to her. At the same time Logan swung his arm in a vertical line and released a crescent blade of dark energy. Time began to slow down to Yellow as she tried to get to Saria as fast as she could. She saw the female Vanguard's face losing colour when she finally noticed the attack heading right for her and remained where she was, like she was somehow frozen in fear.

She quickened her pace and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Look out!" The Vanguard stiffened and looked over just in time to see Yellow grabbing onto her and pushing her down to the ground. The energy cut across the ground, as well as a few strands of Yellow's hair that were caught in its path, before it went right through the tree behind them. A shing sound rang out and soon, a perfectly cut line appeared on the tree. Unable to support itself, the tree split into two and collapsed on top of some other trees.

Yellow shielded her face as a cloud of dust flew at her face, one hand still wrapped around Saria while the other was on top of her hat to keep it from flying away. She looked behind her and froze at the sight of the fallen tree before looking back at Saria. She helped her up to her knees and shook her slightly, "Saria! Are you okay?"

She wasn't. She could see it clearly in her eyes. They were wide with shock as she stared at Logan, her strength suddenly leaving her body. "He… He…attacked me… But he… He would never… let something like Nexus… Logan…"

The Healer began to worry about Saria's condition and shook her again, this time a little harder. "Come on, Saria! This isn't the time to space out! We need you!"

She heard the Vanguard gasp and almost fell on her butt when she got up on her feet. Her eyes had now become desperate as she ran to a close enough distance from Logan. Her worry was noticeable from the way she shouted at him, "Logan! Please listen to me! I know you are in there! This is not like you!"

Wisps of darkness appeared over Logan and formed into the ghostly image of Nexus. His creepy smile was clearly shown on both the phantom and on the barrier, as well as his twisted laughter. _-Logan is no longer here. In fact, there's practically nothing left of the fool in that thick skull of his! Ahahahahaha!-_

She stared at Logan in horror as the mentioned Vanguard turned his rage-filled gaze at her, letting her see that there was, indeed, no signs of her friend in them. No matter how hard she looked at them, she couldn't find any traces of him, or even a glimmer of his emotions within those corrupted eyes. She felt something building up within her chest and her hands began to clench her weapon tightly, causing it to shake in her grasp. Her head suddenly flew up, showing a few streaks of tears on her face and she reared her weapon back.

"You bastard!"

She swung the weapon with all her might and summoned a massive wave of light that towered over Logan. For a moment, Logan's eyes shrunk as soon as he saw the massive wall of light heading right for him. The attack hit him hard and sent him crashing onto a tree. He dropped to the ground, shaken and surprised by the attack, before he shook away the pain.

Nexus' smirk grew even wider as he leaned close what she had just said, _-My, my. Someone has a naughty mouth. Looks like someone needs to be punished, don't cha think Logan?-_ The enraged Vanguard snarled loudly at him in response. _-I mean honestly, she just smacked you like a child with that light show of hers. Does that really make her your friend if she treats you that way?-_

Saria caught on to what Nexus was saying and froze. She looked down at the weapon in her hands and then back at Logan. Not directly, as she felt a great amount of shame and guilt wash over her. "N-No… I… I did not mean to… That was not meant for you… It was meant for…" She saw Logan clenching his left hand into a fist and kept talking, this time more frantic, "Logan… you have to believe me when I say that I have no intensions of harming you! I am only trying to help you!"

_-'Help him?!'-_ The nightmare interrupted before he broke down in laughter. It was by far the most sickening sound she had ever heard; blood bubbling and churning within his maw and his rotting throat making a sickening coughing sound with each laugh. _-That was your idea of helping him? By slamming him against a tree with a light show?!-_

"No! That was never my idea!"

_-Take a good look at her, Logan. This is the girl who promised to help you with the situation you have gotten into, and this is how she treats you? You call me a monster when in reality the true monster has been the one closest to you for the past three months.-_

Saria was now shaking her head in disbelief as the blade of her weapon dropped to the ground with a clang. "Stop this, Nexus! Logan, do not listen to any of his lies! He is manipulating you, like he always has! He does not know of the pain you are feeling more than I!"

_-Lies?! I have been telling him everything he's wanted to hear!-_ The creature shouted angrily in response, _-I've been with him ever since his precious sister died! I've been giving him helpful advice since Day One! I am the only one who knows full well what he's going through. That's what friends are for; we _help_ each other. Unlike some people.-_

"Does that _'helpful advice'_ involve putting Logan through horrific nightmares and illusions, all done by your hand?!" She countered back. Why would he not shut up?

The nightmare looked down at Logan and patted him on the shoulder again, _-You see how she yells at us, Logan. She doesn't care about you or anyone. All she cares about is herself, just like everyone else who has brought you nothing but pain. Just like the Endless that took Lucy away.-_ At the mention of his sister's name, Logan screamed out so loudly that it caused the ground around him to rupture again. _-People like her are the sole reason why you are feeling such agony. They are the ones who are destroying this world; them and the Endless. They will gladly sacrifice the lives of millions just to make their so-called '_Perfect World'_. It just makes me sick knowing that people like her are still roaming free and are not being punished for the sins that they have committed.-_

Saria couldn't believe what she was hearing. Why would he let Nexus tell him such obvious lies? "Logan, please do not tell me that you are believe what he is saying? None of that is true! I have not once brought you pain nor suffering. All of my intentions were to help you with whatever ailed you! You must believe me!"

_-Now she's defending herself! Can you believe it, Logan? She refuses to accept the truth and continues to pretend that she's still all 'friendly and nice' to you. But you and I know the truth, and the truth is always the greatest weapon of them all.-_ He lowered his head until it was next to Logan's ear and whispered, making sure that it was loud enough for Saria to hear, _-Now, my friend, what do you plan to do about the backstabbing traitor you call Saria?-_

Logan's jaw slowly loosened up and uttered a single word, long and broken from all the rage he was feeling at the moment, and entirely focused on her.

"K…K…Kiii…iiilll…lllll…"

Nexus nodded his head. _-Good.- _He looked at Saria once more and gave her a sinister grin before he vanished back into Logan. _-I'll leave you two to sort out your problems.-_

That was all he said before his laughter was heard from the images. Logan growled out loudly and leered at Saria, taking a few heavy steps towards her. Each time his foot lifted from the ground, a fiery footprint remained in its place. And each time he moved closer to her with each step, Saria moved back with each one to keep distance from him.

Saria's body shook in horror as the weapon hung loosely in her hand. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't. "Logan…" Tears were falling from her eyes as she frantically shook her head again, "No… No, I refuse to believe this! I know you are still in there, Logan! You have to stop this! I know you far more than anyone else does, and I know that this is not who you really are! You are honest and brave and selfless! You have saved many lives! You are a hero, not a monster! And you are most certainly not a puppet for Nexus to manipulate!"

"You… do not… know me…" He stated coldly as he moved even closer to her.

"I know, yet I cannot help but believe that I do! You are my friend, Logan, and one of the closest ones I have ever had! I wish to help you, but I cannot do so unless you regain control over yourself! That is why I need you to stop this!"

A massive gust of wind appeared and hit Saria just as Logan roared again, almost knocking her off her feet. She regained her balance and looked up to see a new set of ghostly claws glowing in a sickly dark colour. She backed up even more until she tripped over a rock and fell. The weapon fell out of her hand and skidded across the grass, clear away from her reach. Her body ached in pain from the fall, but the pain she felt upon seeing Logan's enraged form so close to her was far worse than anything she had ever felt.

He was now about five feet away from her as the mists that circled around his body began to move out of control. Horror was visible upon the Guide's eyes as she crawled backwards to get away from him. _No… He cannot… He would never… _Her mind was now in turmoil as Nexus' laughter echoed in her ears. She covered her ears with both hands and closed her eyes tightly, wishing deeply that this was all just some sort of illusion

Logan had his hand raised over his head and was just about to bring it down on her before several small capsules flew overhead and struck Logan in the face. They exploded into smoke the moment they made contact and forced him to move back, holding his hands over his eyes as he cried out in pain. Saria looked behind her to see Alpha standing there, energy staff at hand and more small capsules in the other. He threw the rest in-between her and Logan and quickly ran to her side to help her up. By the time she was up on her feet, Seth and Shinobi had joined them.

The Guardian bent down and picked up Saria's weapon before handing it over to her, **"You alright?"**

Her hand slowly reached up to grab hold of the weapon and held it loosely by her side. Her body shook as her eyes remained wide and frightened. Her breathing was heavy and her heart was beating too fast for her to even consider slowing it down. She shook her head, though from Alpha's view it looked like she wasn't moved at all, and spoke out in a whisper, "Logan… Why would he… I-I do not understand… He could never… He _would _never… Why, Logan…" Alpha could now see more tears falling from her blue luminescent eyes. She turned to face Logan, seeing him still expelling the smoke from his lungs. She kept mumbling to herself before she let her weapon drop to the ground and slumped down to her knees.

Alpha was well aware of what Saria was going through. He had seen this happen a few times before, and he had lost many friends before to understand the feeling. While he would be trying to coax her, they didn't have the time to do so. Instead, he knelt down in front of her and stared at her in the eyes. **"Listen Saria, I know this is something you don't want to hear, but the Logan that you once knew is no longer here, and you have Nexus to blame for that."** She didn't bother looking up at him and let more of her tears fall. Alpha sighed through his audio receptors and kept going,** "I know you want to try and help him, but if you keep this up, then Nexus will force him to kill you. The real Logan would never attempt to harm you, even if he's being controlled. You have to decide now whether you want to stay and fight him, or get the others out of here. I don't care which one you do, just do it fast. I'm not exactly sure how long we can hold him off."**

He patted her on the shoulder and rose up to join up with Seth and Shinobi, who were already making their way over to Logan, leaving Saria alone with her thoughts. She exchanged glances between her weapon and Logan, who had finally regained his composure and stared at the group in front of him with fury before roaring at them. Her heart grew heavier with every second that passed and her mind was in complete turmoil. She was struggling with what was probably the most difficult decision she had ever made in her life; fight and kill the friend that she had grown to respect and secretly loved, or do the impossible and free him from Nexus' control.

The mere thought of doing either one of them was enough for her to consider pulling her own hair out. Killing Logan will destroy their one chance of winning this war as well as all of life. And the improbability of reasoning with him, even if she succeeded in yielding slight results, would surely give Nexus more of a reason to make Logan kill them all. She didn't want to put the others in danger, but at the same time she didn't want to lose the only person who she had felt so close to.

Another spine-tingling roar was enough to force her out of her train of thought, and she turned to look and see Logan thrashing around, screaming at no one in particular, with his hands holding onto his head. He looked as though his head was about to burst open at any moment. He soon let his arms drop to their sides and mindlessly charged at Alpha, more than likely infuriated with being hit by the smoke pellets. A quick glance at his eyes made her stomach churn in shock. Most of the time, his eyes were usually calm and alluring, but now there was nothing within them but anger and sorrow. She had never seen them at this scale before.

She glanced up at the barrier walls, seeing Nexus laughing out loud. The very sight of the fiend made Saria feel sick in the stomach. He had made Logan suffer for ten years, making him never forget his past, all as part of his so-called plan that the Endless were already doing. She wanted to make him pay for all the terrible things that he's done to her.

She wanted to free Logan from Nexus' control.

A few tears fell from her eyes and onto her hands as her fingers began to curl along the ground. Her mind flew off into a tantrum as she realized a flaw with her thoughts. How could she possibly save the person that she loved and felt so close to from something that cannot be physically killed?

* * *

><p>Alpha grunted out loud as he found himself pinned to the ground by the snarling Vanguard that was on top of him. He held his weapon in front to keep Logan from clawing him and had a foot planted against his chest, trying to kick him off of him. After a few unsuccessful attempts, he managed to do so and rose up to his feet. By the time Logan was on his feet, the Guardian threw dozens of explosives at him. The Vanguard saw them coming and hopped back, avoiding the explosions that appeared around him until he was now farther away from him.<p>

After the last explosion went off, Logan began to writhe around and wailed out loud before he charged, his claws scratching the surface of the earth before he brought them up in an uppercut. They grazed the tip of Alpha's chin before he swung his other hand at him, narrowly missing him. Soon he began to attack wildly, his claws digging into the surface of Alpha's weapon and armour, gaining more speed as his frantic growling became a constant stream of roars. He then punched the ground beneath them and it soon exploded in fire and darkness, hitting Alpha with great force and sending him back. Logan didn't stop there, for he soon gave chase after the rolling robot and reared his arm back, ready to strike him once more.

Shinobi appeared out of the ground and tackled the Vanguard away from Alpha before bombarding him with energy blasts. He quickly climbed up and raised his arms up to block the energy. With his attention focused on the wolf, Seth teleported behind him and shot a mass of vines at him. They wrapped around him and pushed him back, his feet digging into the ground the more distance was gained. The rage within his eyes flashed and in an instant, he flicked his arms and broke free of his binds. His hands grabbed onto the ones that were still tied around him and tore them free while he ripped the rest with his teeth. When the last vine came off, he swung his claws at the rest, tearing them to shreds as he ran straight at the Endless, wanting nothing more than to coat the entire area with his blood.

Once he was free from the vines, he immediately began to attack Seth, striking him with punches and kicks while holding off both Alpha and Shinobi. A bellowing roar was heard from the side and soon a massive creature appeared and tackled Logan with a headbutt. The attack hit him hard and made him bounce across the ground a few times, but he soon got back up on his feet. He looked over and saw Red, clearly angry that he almost harmed Yellow, and commanded the creature, now identified as a Snorlax, to attack him while he called out a few more Pokémon. Logan brought his hands up and caught the Snorlax' fists as it brought them down to crush him. The two were about equal in terms of strength, but Logan, even in his enraged state, could feel the beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He applied weight onto both his feet and with a mighty pull, he threw the Pokémon over him.

His moment of victory was short lived as a Poliwrath came in to take the Snorlax' place, ready to hit him with a Focus Punch. The attack him on the side of the face, but he merely stood there and took it. A snarl escaped from his throat as he slowly turned his head to face his new opponent.

A steel fist from Logan's end struck Poli and pushed it back, but it merely shook it off and returned one of its own. Soon it became an all-out brawl between them, each side exchanging punches that seemed to grow stronger each time. After the fourteenth one was thrown from Logan, Poli began to stagger, showing signs of fainting soon. It was then that Pika came in and grabbed hold of Logan's back before discharging electricity onto him. The Vanguard screamed out in pain as he reached behind him to pry the mouse off of him, giving the Poliwrath enough time to gather itself.

The Pokémon moved like a professional boxer, closing the distance between them and landing blow after blow onto Logan with powerful punches. The combined attacks from both Pokémon were enough to make Logan lose his focus, making it difficult for him to counter. The Poliwrath then reared one hand back and hit Logan on the side of the face, then proceeded to do the same with the other hand. It continued the same method a few more times before bringing a fist up in an uppercut. The Pikachu by this point had let go and landed on the ground as Logan was thrown up into the air.

Two vines shot forth from the ground below and wrapped around Logan before they proceeded to toss him around, slamming him into the trees and the ground. Seth by this point had taken over Red's combined assault and unleashed a beam of pure light upon the Vanguard once he was released from the vines. The light brought agonizing pain to him he found himself unable to escape.

When the beam had dissipated, Logan landed on the ground with a thud. He tried to get back on his feet, though in his weakened state, he only managed to get up to his knees before stumbling. He placed his hands in front of him in time to keep himself from hitting himself on the face. His heavy breathing was constant and in need of more air. Pain was all he felt at the moment.

Within his head, Nexus cursed and brought a hand up to his chin, deep in thought. He had not expected the Endless or the drone to be this strong. And the words that the Vanguard wench had said to him were slowly starting to take effect within his heart. If he doesn't finish this battle soon, then his plan will never take motion. He had spent too long to let it go to waste. He needed to come up with an idea to finish them off and fast.

His hollow eyes darted to where Yellow was, sensing her fear resonating within her soul. She had been standing where she had saved Saria, watching the carnage unfold before her with horror. The sound of her heart beaten in that mixture of fear and adrenaline; It was like music to his ears. His twisted smug grew ever wider as a thought crossed his mind. _If I can't succeed in killing them all… then I'll just have to go for the most obvious one._ He flexed the fingers on his rotting hand and his voice rang out from across the barrier, _-Forget them, Logan! They're not worth your time! This time… I want you to kill…-_

_-YELLOW CABALLERO!-_

Feelings of shock erupted within everyone as Logan twisted his body around to face the mentioned trainer and practically flew right at her. Seth and Alpha both moved to stop him, but they were blasted by a wave of darkness that sent them even further away. Red screamed out for her to run as Snor came in to stop him. The Vanguard merely tossed the large Pokémon over him and shoved Red out of the way. Yellow's eyes widen as Logan moved closer and closer to her, and his clawed hand reared back and ready to sink into her flesh. Her body became frozen in fear as time began to slow down around her. In her mind, she could hear Nexus laughing like the true psychopath that he was, the tone of victory ebbed in his daunting voice.

She could see him swinging the hand, aiming to claw at her stomach. A cold feeling nestled within her as the claws were now just an inch away from grazing her. She could see Red rushing over to try and stop Logan himself, but it was a foolish thing. He would never make it in time, and it was more than likely that Nexus may end up killing him the moment he finishes with her. She closed her eyes when she knew that there was no chance of escaping and waited for the claws to come.

Only they never did, for something else had hugged her in a blanket of warmth. She subconsciously opened her eyes to see the world before her… and she moved.

A few strands of her hair were caught by the swiping attack, as well as her straw hat being blown right off of her head, but she had nonetheless rolled out of the way and rose back up to her feet. She looked at Logan just in time to see his claws imbedding themselves within the tree that stood behind her.

He growled deeply as his gaze shifted to where Yellow was now, his lust for blood immediately erasing all of his senses. He roared once more and lunged to claw at her again…

…Only to find that he couldn't move.

He looked back, confused and irritated, to see that his claws had dug themselves so deep into the tree that they were now stuck. He tugged his arm a few times, and was angered to see that it did nothing. He gripped his wrist with his free hand, placed a foot against the tree, and pulled with all his might. Still, it yielded no results.

The air was suddenly filled with horrid screaming as Logan frantically tried to remove his hand with each tug, growing more and more agitated as he did. Yellow saw what was happening and knew what this newfound aggression meant; with his sense of humanity gone, Logan was behaving like a wild Pokémon, and what wild Pokémon hated the most was being trapped.

Red stood nearby with Pika by his side, looking at Logan with both anger and guilt. Anger that he tried to harm Yellow, guilt at what he was about to do. He began to hesitate as his mind wandered back to the conversation that they had earlier.

* * *

><p><em>A few hours earlier, Red's House…<em>

"But we both trust each other enough to know that neither of us are enemies, so I came here, as a friend… to ask a favour." Logan said to Red as his hand remained over the injury that was on his arm.

"What kind of favour?" Red asked.

He didn't say anything at first, wondering if maybe this wasn't such a good idea. After a few moments of silence, he finally began, "Well first off I want to ask you a question, and I need you to be honest with this one. And don't even bother trying to lie, because I'll know if you are." He added as he pointed up to his eyes, reminding Red of his ability.

He lowered his hand and asked the question that Red would have put aside with the other DexHolders, "Do you love Yellow Caballero?"

The question came out rather blunt to Red and he began to scratch the back of his head, "Um… I'm not sure what that has to do with–"

"It has everything to do with this conversation." He cut him off with a stern look on his face before it began to soften. "Now… do you love Yellow?"

The trainer began to feel a little nervous over the question and set himself down on one of the chairs. Why was Logan asking him if he loved Yellow? It wasn't really his place to ask him such questions, nor did it seem like his kind of thing. But the way he asked it sounded as though it was an important thing to discuss. He could change the topic like he always did, but he had to remind himself that Logan was a Vanguard, and Vanguards can easily see through people's lies.

He struggled to form the words out of his mouth, looking like a fish out of water from the way he looked, until he finally said, "Well…I… I do love her. But, what does that–"

"Then you should tell her that as soon as you can." Logan cut him off once more before he quickly added, "Look Red, one day something might happen to either one of you and you'll never get the chance to tell her the truth. It's best to confess to her now while you still have time before it's too late."

"But how will I know if she loves me back?" Red asked him, "She's not like Blue or Misty or even Sapphire. She's… _fragile_… and she gets nervous really easily. What if I do tell her, and it just makes her too nervous to talk to me? What do I do then?"

Logan uncrossed his arms and began making his way to the door, "You won't know unless you tell her. And besides," He stopped for a moment and looked over his shoulder, "Why would she think like that when she feels about you the same way?"

Red froze upon hearing that and stared at him with disbelief. Was he being serious? "How would you know that?"

"You're not the only one whose having trouble confessing to someone you love." Was Logan's answer before he opened the door and took a step outside. The door was about to close behind him before Red stopped him.

"Wait, you said you came here to ask a favour." Red began, wondering what was it that Logan wanted him to do, "What was that favour?"

Logan stopped where he was and chuckled, "Tell Yellow the truth. That's the favour." With that, the door closed behind him, leaving Red alone to ponder over what he said.

* * *

><p><em>Present Time, Viridian Forest…<em>

Red's hand began to shake, recalling some of the great deeds that Logan had done and the people he rescued since they had met. Had he not come to this world along with his friends, then he, Yellow and everyone in Celadon would have been killed as soon as the Endless arrived. He clenched his hand as Logan's words replayed in his mind, letting him know what he must do now.

"I'm sorry Logan." He whispered out loud before he pointed at him. Though Pika was hesitant at first, he understood what Red meant and attacked.

The Pikachu let loose a powerful bolt of electricity that struck Logan where his robotic arm connected with the rest of his body. He screamed out in pain as he felt the electricity dance across his body. His whole body shook as the electricity grew stronger. Everyone watched in shock, or in Saria's case sheer horror, as the light within Logan's eyes began to dim until they soon disappeared.

Within a few moments, the lightning had stopped its assault and the area immediately fell silent. A few jolts appeared around Logan's body while his fingers twitched a couple times before they went numb. The light in his eyes faded completely and his body slumped forward, lying against the tree. His hollow breathing, which had brought a sense of fear upon all, was now replaced by the dead silence that slowly consumed him.

Alpha and Seth remained where they were as they mumbled out a prayer in their language, giving out their respects to the fallen Vanguard. Yellow had her hands over her mouth, mortified over the fact that Red would do such a thing, while Red looked away in guilt and tipped his hat to cover his face. But the one who felt the worse was Saria, who felt as though her world had shattered and broke down into tears. Her weeping started to replace the ever-growing silence and made the guilt that Red was feeling become even worse.

A few unbearable moments of silence and Saria's tears had passed until Yellow finally confronted Red, "Red… Why? Why would you kill him?"

He looked away from her, too ashamed of himself to look at her in the eye, and replied, "I… I didn't want to… But he… he tried to hurt you and I…" He found himself unable to finish his sentence. No matter what, he just couldn't find the words to say to her. Instead, he mumbled loud enough for only Yellow to hear, "I'm sorry."

She didn't say anything and looked at the ground, clearly upset about the whole thing. She didn't hate him for what he did. In fact she understood his reason for doing it. But it doesn't change the fact that he did it. She glanced over at Logan's body, a feeling of both pity and sorrow clenching at her heart. She felt an arm wrap around her, knowing that it was Red who was trying to comfort her, and buried her head on his chest. He held her there and let the Viridian trainer cry on the seams of his vest.

Had any of them paid more attention, they would have noticed the slight movement coming from the tip of Logan's fingers, or the shadow that slowly started to take shape near him.

Shinobi was the first to take notice of what was going on and barked out loud before growling. The others heard the bark and looked to see the shadow forming into Nexus. His twisted smug and choked laughing set them on high alert.

_-Mourning for your friend so soon?- _He taunted out loud, clearly enjoying the sight of seeing them in pain.

They all casted fierce glares at him, some because of what he had done to Logan, others because they were growing tired of hearing the fiend's voice. Through the intensity of their glares, though, Saria's voice soon rose up above them all. The sheer venom that was lapsed with her voice was immeasurable to the amount of anger that she had towards the nightmare.

"You… You are the reason why Logan has lost himself to darkness. You corrupted his mind, making him feel nothing but pain and agony, all so that you can make him into your puppet… your slave." Her head suddenly rose up, letting everyone see the tears that were clearly visible on her eyes. From where she was, Yellow thought that she had seen the calm, azure glow that was there turn blood red. "You are the reason why he is dead!"

Nexus chuckled out loud at the sight of her tears, _-Saria… So quick to jump to conclusions. Have you already forgotten that I control Logan and his every move? I decide what power he'll use to crush you. I decide whether he is of use to me or not. _I _decide whether he lives or dies.-_ He raised his hand up in front of his face, casting a wicked smile as he did, _-Don't believe me? How about a little demonstration then?- _As soon as he said those words, he snapped his fingers.

The light within Logan's eyes returned as his horrifying scream rang out. In less a few seconds, he stood up on his feet and turned his upper body around, pulling the entire tree with his claws at the same time. At the arc of his turn, the claws wrenched themselves free from the bark and tore the tree right off of its roots. The tall oak, now free, bounced off the ground, going over Red and Yellow's heads as they ducked down, before crashing into the line of trees that were close by.

More blood oozed from the empty sockets as Nexus bellowed in laughter. _-You see? Still as lively as ever, if you want to call it that.-_

Something in the back of Saria's mind snapped and she grabbed her weapon. She twirled it in her hand as she climbed up to her feet and swung it in front of her, summoning a wave of light that headed straight for Nexus. The attack, much like the previous ones, simply fazed through him.

Nexus placed a hand underneath his chin and his other hand underneath his elbow to support it. _-Honestly, Saria. Resorting to brute force? I thought Guides were more reasonable than that. But then again, they're not emotional teenage girls.-_

Another blast of light fazed through him, this one meant for his head. His twisted smug grew even wider at the Vanguard's feeble attempts to harm him. The polearm began to shake in Saria's grasp as she gripped the weapon tightly, her anger well over the limits. "I grow tired of hearing your voice, Nexus! Stop hiding in the shadows and face me personally!"

Before anyone could speak up over what she said, they heard Nexus' voice shouting out gleefully. _-I thought you'd never ask!-_ He snapped his fingers again, and in response Logan's body stiffened. A great wave of pain flowed across his entire body, causing him to scream out in agony. He took a few steps back, and wrapped both arms around his body as the pain grew worse. More tears fell from his eyes and onto the grass below before what sounded like flesh being torn suddenly filled the air.

Saria saw movement out of the corner of her eye and saw the very shadows from the trees moving on their own, suddenly filled with life. They stretched out across the ground like shadowy hands, reaching up and grabbing onto Logan's feet before they began to meld with him. The dark aura quickly expanded and created a thick veil that surrounded him, hiding him from the others completely.

A look of horror was all over Saria's face as she cried out, "Logan!" She glared at the nightmare with fury burning in her eyes, "What are you doing to him?!"

_-Just making a few modifications,-_ He replied slowly and grimly before his sick laughter resonated around them, _-for your inevitable destruction!-_ He laughed out loud and soon faded into the dark veil.

The veil had soon transformed into a perfect sphere, big enough to contain Logan within it. The mists continued to enter the sphere, and when the last of it disappeared, the sphere dissipated, revealing a newly changed Logan to them.

His arms and claws were now slightly longer than before, and his whole body glowed in dark violet symbols. Wisps circled around his neck and formed into a long, black scarf that soon grew four shadowy tendrils, looking very similar to the ones from his Soul Form. His mouth slowly opened, revealing even bigger and sharper teeth, and his eyes glowed with madness. The shadows continued to climb up until they soon stopped over his right eye, creating a portion of the helm from his Soul Form. His right eye bore even more cracks across it, letting out the green light that was there.

He hovered above the ground and moved his hands around, the darkness following his movement like water before he descended to the ground. The moment his feet touched the grass, the emerald field became a sea of black, with the leaves of the trees turning blood red and the bark slowly being corrupted by the dark. The sky overhead began to grow dark as storm clouds rolled in. A crack of thunder rang in their ears and lightning forked across the sky, followed soon after by heavy rain. The rain danced along the sea of darkness and onto the Vanguard's skin.

Saria stood ready as Logan's body began to twist and convulse, moving his arms at angles she never thought possible before they finally relaxed. A series of choked laughter echoed out and soon Logan's head reared up to look at her, letting her see right away that the laughter was coming from him.

_"Now then,"_ Nexus' voice ran out through Logan's mouth as the tendrils coiled around like snakes ready to strike, _"__Where did we leave off?"_

_To Be Continued…_

* * *

><p><strong>(Reviews and critiques are always welcome. Feel free to express your thoughtsdisappointment about the chapter. See you next time for the next chapter.)**

***Sigh* I really need some sleep.**


	23. Corruption III: Solace

**(A/N: …I have no words to say, other than that this took WAY too long to finish. To put simply, I went back to a lot of games to beat them on harder difficulties, lots of stuff happening at school since I'm graduating, and Prom.**

_**Prom.**_

**It was both a blast and a pain at the same time. I went with the girl I secretly had a crush on and had such an amazing time, but I was out of my element (I'm an indoor-kind of person, not very social) so I just ended up being flat-out tired from it (The tired part is why Prom was a pain, but still it was such an amazing time).**

**Other than that, I honestly hate the ending of this chapter. I feel like I could have done better on it, but there were no other ideas for the ending coming into my head. And out of the four I already had in mind, this one was better then the rest, but was still awful in my opinion. I may go back to remake it, but I just want to get this chapter out of the way.**

**After this chapter, I will be on Hiatus. Don't know how long, but I will be using that time to go back to earlier chapters and fixing them. Some chapters may have minor changes, some may be completely different or revamped, so keep an eye out for those changes.**

**As for music, there's quite a few I recommend for the fight between Logan and Saria.**

**- Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days: Vector to the Heavens**

**- Asura's Wrath: Unleashed (Vajra Asura vs. Vajra Deus) ***

**- Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 3: With the Shinobi World at Stake ***

**There's probably a few more that I feel that are better, but the ones with the star beside them I highly recommend.**

**Other than that, enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter 22: Corruption Part III: Solace<strong>

Thunder boomed like a continuous explosion as Saria stood in her stance, waiting for Nexus to make his move. Nexus, now possessing Logan's body, looked up at the sky as he extended his arms out, looking as though he was basking himself in the rain. These new feelings; the pitter-patter of the rain against his skin, the cold kiss of the night wind brushing by, the feeling of the black sea sloshing beneath his feet; it was all so new to him.

"_So this is what it feels like… to be alive…" _A growl escaped his jaw as he lowered his arms, chuckling darkly as he did, _"How pitiful."_ His maddening eyes trailed from Saria to the two trainers who stood close by, then to where the two Endless and the Guardian were. He averted his eyes back to Saria and cracked his knuckles as soon as he was finished cracking his neck, _"Now, where did we leave off? Oh yes. Now I remember. I was just about ready to kill you. How silly of me to forget…"_

Lightning flashed across the sky as the possessed Vanguard made his move. In the split moment that the lightning had appeared, he was already in front of Saria with a shadowy blade fully materialized on his right forearm. She cursed and raised her polearm up just in time for the blade to hit it. The force of the attack was enough to push her back, as well as breaking through her guard. She glanced up as rain dripped from the front locks of her hair, seeing the twisted dark violet eyes staring back at her.

She looked down at the blade, seeing the dark aura flowing along the edges like vapour, her mind already in a state of panic. The moment the blade had hit her weapon, she could sense the tremendous flow of power that was there. Even though the blade didn't hit her, her whole body felt like it was on fire.

_Amazing… To think that Logan had this much power with him, yet he neglected it this whole time…_

She snapped out of her moment of awe just as Logan attacked once again, forcing her to defend herself. She blocked the attack easily and took a few steps back, keeping as much distance as she can from him while her mind began to think over the situation. As long as Logan remained under Nexus' control, he would be too dangerous to face up close if it meant having to fend off against that blade. Even fighting from afar would prove to be challenging. None of them knew what kind of tricks the nightmare had at his disposal, so they had to be careful.

Logan twisted around on one foot and hit the body of the staff with the heel of his other foot, forcing Saria back, then used the other foot to do the same thing, hitting her again. His eyes flashed and he began to swing wildly, forcing her to block them all as the blade kissed the surface of her weapon. Her body was alight with pain as the energy flew around her with every swing Logan made. She wasn't even getting hit by the blade directly, and already her strength was wavering. If she didn't get away from him soon, then she was done for.

A large figure appeared in front of her and drove a knee right onto Logan's head, sending him back across the sea of darkness. It took Saria a second to realize that the figure was Seth, who was now beginning to blast Logan with both electricity and fire. A second blade appeared on Logan's other forearm and was swung at one of the fireballs, destroying it immediately. He swung the other one a moment after the first and hit the lightning, diverting it away from it and letting it hit a tree over on the side. Both blades were soon swung in a frenzy, deflecting or destroying every projectile that Seth threw at him.

When the last one was dealt with, Nexus saw that the Endless was now in front of him, ready to hit him with a lightning fused palm strike. A grim laugh rang out and he vanished, appearing moments after behind him and driving a powerful kick onto the Endless' back. He soon teleported all around Seth, striking him with nothing but swift kicks before the last one sent him upward. He teleported once more above him, grabbed him by the shoulders with both hands and threw him to a nearby cross. The Endless crashed through it and a few others that were behind it before slamming against a chain. He groaned as he rubbed the top of his head and soon got back up on his feet. The fiend's smug grew wider and he began to advance towards the Endless, both blades ready to rend his flesh from the bone.

The sea rippled as the ground suddenly shook, and before Nexus knew it, giant roots exploded from within the blackness and headed right for him. He jumped above the roots, landing at various spots to increase his ascend, and soon landed on the very top of the mass. He kept himself perched up there, scanning the ground below for who or what had dared attacked him. His eyes eventually took notice of the Venusaur that was close to Red, its body outlined in a green aura, and the main portion of the roots starting from where it was.

Another lightning bolt appeared in the sky just as the Vanguard hopped off of his perch. He sprinted along the root, hoping over ones that were in his way or breaking through them, and kept his hollow gaze onto the large Pokémon. Red shouted out a command to it and the Venusaur soon fired a ton of leaves at him. He swung the blade in front of him as he continued dashing, deflecting the attack with no ease. Saur continued to fire more Razor Leafs while Poli and Aero, who quickly joined in, began firing beams of ice and energy at the Vanguard. He saw the attacks coming and simply moved out of the way, letting their attacks hit areas where he once was and soon made it to ground level.

Alpha raised his right hand towards Logan just as he landed and felt the machinery inside of it moving around, forming twin wrist mounted blasters. He aimed the barrels at Logan and fired, a volley of lasers soaring above the sea. The rain landed on the hot plasma and evaporated as soon as they touched them. They soon struck him dead-on, leaving nothing but searing hot pain on his body. For a moment, everyone thought that they heard Logan screaming out in agony before Nexus' voice came back.

Irritation gripped onto his mind as Nexus lifted Logan's left hand up and aimed the palm at Alpha. Static trailed around the fingers before they began to shoot out from the tip of the claws and merged into a large, shadowy ball. Once it was big enough, he released it. The orb flew across the field and struck the ground in front of Alpha, knocking him back a few feet. He regained his balance and quickly glanced up to see two more heading his way. He jumped out of the way in time and raised his arms up in retaliation to the smoke that soon appeared from the explosions.

Nexus let out a crude laugh as he fired even more shadow balls at the Guardian. _"That's right! Dance! Dance, you rusted piece of junk!"_ The shadow balls were soon launched in quick succession, exploding all around Alpha as he continued to return fire. The Vanguard snapped his fingers and soon a barrier had appeared, absorbing the lasers with it before it disappeared. _"Fool! You're merely wasting time!"_ He raised the other hand up, energy already circulating around it. _"Let's see how the right hand does it!"_

He never got the chance to try it out, as two vines wrapped around the arm tightly and pulled him away. He planted a foot down to stop himself and followed the vines to see where they were coming from. Sure enough, the Venasaur was there, struggling to pull him while Red was encouraging it to keep it up.

Nexus' smug grew even wider. _"Nice try… but it will take more than that to stop me!"_ Nexus taunted as he twisted his ensnared hand to get a firm grip on the vines while using the other hand to grab the vines a little farther away. When he was sure he had a good enough grip on them, he pulled the vines and began to swing them around. The Venusaur was flown forward in response and felt its whole body spinning around the Vanguard, unable to stop him. Nexus first swung the large Pokémon at Alpha to stop him from firing anymore lasers, then proceeded to slam it against the ground, more than likely payback for doing it to him earlier.

Red saw what was happening to his Pokémon and looked at the Snorlax beside him, "Snor! Go and help Saur!"

"_Snor!"_ The Pokémon replied as it charged at the Vanguard.

Nexus saw the large Pokémon coming and threw the Venusaur at it. The Snorlax was unprepared as its friend slammed against it, knocking it off its feet. The Venusaur was airborne for a moment before the Vanguard had struck it with a shadowy kick. The attack blasted it away from the other Pokémon, letting Nexus lay the smack down on it. He lifted the massive Pokémon over it and threw it up, waiting for it to come back down before striking it dead centre in the stomach with an uppercut. He crouched down and sprang up, flying past the Snorlax until he was now above it. The four tendrils curled in front of him and soon created an orb of darkness that was bigger than his own body. He fired the orb at the Pokémon as it came within reach and watched as it was slammed back to the ground in an explosion.

Red gawked in shock as the dust cleared to reveal Snor out cold. He pulled out its Pokeball and called it back, as well as Saur, and put them both away in a safe place. He glanced up and saw Poli fighting against Logan this time, swinging punch after punch at him, but missing each time. It lowered its right hand as it prepared a Focus Punch and threw the punch upward, aiming to hit his chin. The fist grazed him slightly and he vanished, fading into the darkness beneath them. The Poliwrath looked around for its opponent, oblivious that he was appearing from the ground behind it.

Red saw this right away and shouted out, "Poli! Behind you!"

Too late. The Poliwhirl looked behind it only to see the Vanguard right there with both hands crackling with electricity. He moved the hands on either side of the Pokémon's head and let the lightning loose. The Pokémon screamed out in pain as the electricity surged across its body, showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. All the while Nexus' laughter could be heard through its pain, bringing a terrible sense of fear to all who watched. After a few seconds, he withdrew his hands and let the Water Pokémon drop to the ground, unconscious and badly hurt.

He quickly pulled out three Pokéballs and called back his Pokémon, all the while cursing in his head. _Damn it. He's too fast and powerful to fight up close. Gotta think of something quick before he-_

"_Planning your demise already?"_ Nexus whispered out loud, almost as though he was standing right beside him.

Red instinctively looked up and saw Logan just about ready to impale him with the shadowy blade. _SHIT! _He mentally cursed to himself as he moved to the side to avoid the fatal strike. The Vanguard swung the blade to the side this time, leaving Red barely enough time to dodge it.

Nexus continued his assault as he taunted the Battler, _"Killing Saria will be oh so easy once I slaughter you and your annoying 'pets'!"_ He swung again and again, aiming to slice Red's chest wide open, but the trainer continued to evade them. He reared the blade over his head and swung it down, creating a crescent shape beam that headed right for him. Red stood there for a moment, surveying the situation he was in before a roar rang out overhead. He didn't hesitate to raise his arms up and was soon lifted from the ground. The blade had barely missed him again and teared a large crevice beneath the sea, letting the dark water pour sink in it.

The Vanguard looked up to see where he went and saw that the Aerodactyl was holding onto his shoulders with its feet. Red took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and looked up at his Pokémon, "Thanks for the save, Aero."

"_RRROOOAAARRR!"_ The Pokémon happily replied.

Red's expression grew more serious as he looked back at Nexus. He clenched his fist tightly and shouted out, "Why do you want to kill Saria so badly? What has she ever done to you?"

"_Out of all of you, _she_ is the only one who is somehow able to free Logan from my control. The fact that he can respond to her voice above all of yours can only mean that she is somehow beginning to fill the void within his heart!"_ Nexus explained rather bluntly, obviously annoyed about the subject.

The words echoed in Red's ear as he began to understand the meaning behind them. _Wait… Does that mean that Logan…?_

The ground beneath Nexus began to shook as fragments of the earth slowly raised up around him. His hand was alight in a black fire that soon circled around his claws. _"__I have waited for a full decade for my plans to finally be set into motion, and I will not let some bitch ruin it! I will succeed in destroying this world and everyone in it, but to do that, I need to clear everything and everyone who will hinder my progress! Starting with you!"_

The earth exploded around Logan as soon as his feet were off the ground and took off like a rocket. Aero quickly flew out of the way as Logan sped past them and missed a swiping attack. The Vanguard twisted his body around so that he was facing them, and somehow managed to stop his ascend. Before Red had the time to figure it out, Logan pounced again, this time to another spot in the middle of the air and closer to him. The Aerodactyl, upon seeing this, soon took off, trying to put as much distance between it and him.

Red looked back and saw that Logan was right behind them, quickly gaining speed. He tapped Aero's foot a few times and shouted out in desperation, "Get us out of here, Aero!"

"_RRROOOAAARRR!"_ The Pokémon obeyed and flapped its wings harder.

At ground level, Yellow saw the situation and spoke to the Endless beside her, the worry and confusion very clear as she said the words. "How is Logan moving around like that? There's nothing for him to stand on but air."

-_He is using the Darkness to do so.-_

Saria turned around to face Seth and repeated, "Using… the Darkness…?" She was clearly confused about what he meant.

Seth didn't give her the time to finish asking as he soon explained it to her, _-He is using 'Shadow Walk' to traverse across the air. It is an ancient ability that few Vanguards possess that creates platforms made out of darkness. If used correctly, Shadow Walk can be useful to flank enemies, cross pools of water, ice and lava, or as an evasive maneuvre.-_

Saria looked back and could see that Logan was just behind Red and Aero by a hand's reach. "This is bad… If Logan is able to use Shadow Walk to move around that fast, then that means that Red…"

Tears began to fall from Yellow's eyes as she watched her friend barely avoiding a dark beam at close range. "Red…" Her hands wrapped around each other and her fingers curled, making it look as though she was praying, "Please be careful."

Aero roared out as another dark beam soared past its wing. It could feel the agonizing power within it even though it didn't hit it. The Pokémon soon grew tired of being chased around and whirled around to fire a Hyper Beam at Logan. He moved out of the way and let the beam shot forth into the night sky. The Aerodactyl didn't stop there and continued firing more at him, showing no signs of stopping. Again, Logan avoided all of them save for the last one, which grazed him by the shoulder. It was enough to stop him mid-jump and make him fall to the ground below.

But Nexus wasn't about giving up just yet. The Vanguard's eyes flashed and soon he vanished, leaving no traces of his existence behind.

Red knew that the fight was far from over, for Nexus was possibly using the portal to appear elsewhere and attack him from there. He looked around for any signs of him, as did Aero, while thinking of a possible way to stop him. They started to search around frantically, wondering where he could be. From the ground, the others could see something flash overhead, and soon a silhouette began to fall straight down onto Red and Aero.

They never had the chance to warn him as the silhouette landed on top of the Aero, knocking it off of its flight for a few moments while struggling to keep itself up. Red glanced up to see what it was and saw the mad smile on Logan's face, and the claws on his right hand brimming with darkness. He shouted for Aero to get him off, but it was too late, for Logan slashed the Pokémon's wings. Aero screamed out in pain and soon began to lose its control over flying and descend to the ground. Nexus let out a dark chuckle as he disappeared again, leaving the two to their fate.

Aero winced as it tried to flap its wings, but it knew it was a futile effort. There was no way it can stop itself from crashing, but it still had the energy to do one thing before it did. When it was close enough to the ground, it opened its talons, letting Red roll along the ground as soon as he landed and crashed. It slammed against a few of the gnarled crosses before stopping. Red got up and ran to his Pokémon's side, cursing along the way at Nexus for pulling off such a dirty tactic. He reached the Pokémon and looked over the injuries. He cringed at the sight.

The wings were clipped at the bottom, having the skin torn off. Blood leaked out from the wounds as well as on the back, to which there were more slash marks there. Aero was still alive, but it won't stand a chance against Logan in this kind of state. He pulled out a Pokéball and called it back. "You did a good job, Aero. You just take a good rest." He smiled at the Pokéball before placing it back with the others. He heard a noise from behind and his expression became more serious.

The nightmare let out a horrible series of laughter as he moved closer to the trainer. _"Four down, two to go. The odds aren't very good, Red. Maybe you should give up now while you still have the chance, save yourself the embarrassment of being defeated by me."_

Red glared at the nightmare as Pika soon joined him by his side. "It's not over yet until one of us is unable to fight."

"_What fight?"_ Nexus sneered, _"All you've done was run away like a coward and let your little pets do all the work. Fighting you has been nothing more than a waste of time. 'Champion of Kanto'… Hah! What a joke! I would have expected Green to put up a much better fight than you. He certainly knows more about Pokémon than you could ever hope to imagine!"_

The Battler got up to his feet in a mad haste and, with such force, delivered a right hook onto the Vanguard's face. "Will you just shut up?!" A sickening sound rang out as though bones were being cracked, surprising everyone including himself.

The Vanguard opened his left eye and cast a look of annoyance at him. Red removed his hand and took a few steps back, his mind telling him to run.

A giant smile was sprawled across his face as Nexus began to spoke with gleeful excitement. _"You call that a punch? _This_ is a punch!"_ His right hand balled up into a fist and hit Red right in the gut. He coughed as pain immediately took over and collapsed onto his knees, wrapping his arms over his stomach. The pain was unbelievable, something he half-expected from Logan and his titanic strength. Out of his line of sight, he could make out Nexus putting a foot on his forehead and kicking him back with as much force as the punch. He landed on his back hard and cringed at the second wave of pain.

He tried to get up, but a foot was quickly pressed down on his upper torso, keeping him pinned down. He glared at Logan and saw the blade on his right forearm pointing at his throat.

"_Looks like you're out of options, and out of luck." _The nightmare sneered, then laughed hysterically at Red's attempts to intimidate him with his fiery glare. He reared the blade back, bringing it past his head and aimed it so that it would pierce the trainer's heart. Red's glare began to falter as the sudden realization of what he was about to do began to take in.

"_Say goodbye, Red of Pallet Town!"_ Nexus shouted out as the blade came down…

"_Raticate!"_ A cry shouted out from the side, followed soon after by the sound of scurrying feet.

Before Nexus knew what happened, he was tackled on the side by a Raticate. Despite its size, the Pokémon packed a lot of power and managed to knock him away from the Battler. Nexus shook his head and looked over in time to see a Dodrio moving all three of its heads forward, the beaks spinning like drills. He was unable to stop them in time and felt them hitting him in the chest, bringing forth a mountain of pain. The Dodrio backed up as soon as its attack was successful and another Pokémon joined in, this one being an Omastar. Its mouth opened up and a torrent of water shot forth, slamming against Logan and sending him back even further. One of Logan's arms began to glow and he soon fired a Shadow Rend at the stream of water. The Omastar moved out of the way as the crescent-shaped blade scarred the earth where it once stood and landed beside the other Pokémon.

Nexus took a deep breath as he tried to regain his senses. He was not used to the sensations of being tired or hurt. As a fabric of Logan's subconscious, he was immune to all this. But now, he was able to feel them like any other being.

A thick string made of a silky substance wrapped around his hand and stuck to him like glue, its existence oblivious to him. A pair of feminine hands wrapped the other end of it around a tan and bulky arm, which soon disappeared as the owner of the hand formed into a ball. It began to roll on the spot, gaining speed as it did, and soon took off. By the time Nexus regained his senses and looked around his surroundings, a large boulder raced past him, followed up by the silky string. His eyes followed it as it slowly began to suspend over the grass and saw that it was wrapped around his hand. It took a moment for his mind to ponder over this before the thought suddenly dawned on him, and when it did, he cursed.

He suddenly flew forward as the string now began to pull him and planted a foot deep into the ground. Both hands grabbed hold of the thick webbing as the boulder tried to pick up more speed. He could feel his strength wavering slightly and felt the ground beneath him tear. Darkness seeped across his left arm and formed into the shadowy blade, to which he quickly placed it on the webbing.

"_I've had enough of this!" _He shouted out loud and cut the string.

As soon as he cut it, he stumbled back from the loss of balance while the boulder raced forward. He heard tiny feet scuttling behind him and was too late to look back as he felt it slamming against his back, as well as the intense pain that came with the electricity. His whole body shook with pain as it gradually grew worse, and for a split moment, Logan's voice had returned and let out a pain-filled scream. The scream was terrible to listen to, and it was enough to make Saria's heart sink even deeper in guilt.

He stumbled forward from the devastating attack and placed his hands on the ground. The pain that he was feeling… there were no words to describe it, other than the fact that it hurt like Hell itself. _"…This… is what pain feels like…"_ He muttered to himself as he slowly climbed up to his feet. He looked back and saw all the Pokémon that had attacked him, even the boulder, which quickly formed into the familiar shape of a Golem. All of them cast a fierce glare at him while the trainer who owned them stared at him with a mix of anger and fear.

When his eyes met hers, a feral smile had appeared. _"So, little Yellow wants to play 'Hero' and fight me, huh?"_ He mocked at her as he took a few steps forward. In response, she took a few steps back, but still tried her best to keep her glare on him. _"Playing that kind of game is dangerous, especially for little girls like you. There are a lot of people who will not hesitate to do terrible things to the 'Hero'."_

Her hands began to shake from the fear that was gradually building up inside of her and shook her head to get rid of the dreadful thoughts that soon swarmed in, "I-I'm not afraid of you… Nexus."

"_Oh, but I believe you are, my dear Amarillo. I can sense it all around you; Your fear screams out to me like a siren's song… your soul cries out in agony… even your heart trembles in despair before me. It brings forth a sense of euphoria onto me. It makes me want to kill you as slowly as possible just so I can hear it even more."_

A flash escaped from his eyes and in an instant, a shockwave erupted all around him, blasting the Pokémon clear away from him and blowing Yellow's hat off her head. The Golem and Omastar were the first to recover and attacked him, but he easily evaded them and struck them hard with a backhand, knocking them out instantly. The Pikachu started to charge up the electricity in its body to attack, but he countered by firing a blast of darkness at it. The mouse was hit directly by it and was KO'ed instantly. Yellow felt a sense of helplessness take over her as she watched her Pokémon fall one by one. She tried to run, but her body wouldn't respond no matter how hard she tried.

When she was able to regain what little control she had left over her legs, she took a step back… and immediately hit something hard behind her. Shocked, she looked back and saw that a large cobblestone tombstone had appeared where it never was before, and several chains that bind around it from the darkness. She stared at the tombstone for a solid three seconds, having the strange feeling that this was soon going to be hers, and soon saw a message etched on the bottom of it in bolded letters. What it said made her fear grow even worse.

'_Amarillo Del Bosque Verde.' _

A hand cupped itself underneath her chin and forcefully turned her around to meet Nexus' hollow gaze. The tendrils moved by a will of their own and slowly began to slither towards her, looming over her like hungry predators.

"_Looks like I'll finish off what my fragment started."_ Nexus said grimly before he began to laugh out loud. The tendrils in response moved down until they hovered over her chest, exactly where her heart was. They reared back and moved past Logan's head, preparing to impale her and end her life in an instant.

She closed her eyes as tears began to fall, wondering to herself if this was truly the end.

A figure jumped from behind Logan and grabbed hold of him, locking his arms around his neck and pulling him back. The sudden action made Nexus release his hold on Yellow and llose focus on what he was doing. The tombstone crumbled away and she was able to back away from him. She glanced at the figure and gasped when she who it was.

Red held on tight as Logan twist and turned like a bull, trying to shake the human off of him. "Run Yellow, while I have him distracted!" He yelped in surprise as he barely avoided being hit by the back of Logan's head.

"But Red…!" She shouted back before a set of claws were swung in front of her, just a few inches away from her face, forcing her to stay back.

"Just go! I'll be fine!"

"_You again?!"_ Nexus snarled when he heard Red's voice. This human wouldn't give up. _"You humans are a stubborn bunch!"_ The tendrils began to move again and snaked their way behind them both, looming over Red. They joined together and began to spin, forming into a menacing drill. _"Well, if you're that keen in taking your little girlfriend's place, then by all means! You'll die first!"_

Lightning arced across the sky as the drill came right down and pierced through Red's left shoulder, drawing out a lot of blood when it punctured through the flesh. He screamed out in pain and gritted his teeth as the tendrils spun digging deeper and deeper as though they were going right through him.

Time seemed to halt around Yellow as she watched the terrible event unfold. Panic immediately clouded her mind, then shock, then fear. Tears ran down along her peach-coloured cheeks, and the forest was soon awakened by her voice.

"RED!" She screamed out as she ran at Logan and threw herself at him in a full-body tackle.

Saria saw what she was doing and gasped. "Are you trying to get yourself killed, Yellow!?" When she didn't respond, she twirled the polearm and ran in to join, "Hold on!"

_-Shinobi!-_ Seth called out to the wolf Endless, who had already sprang into action.

Nexus swatted Yellow away with the back of his hand and reached back to grab Red. He shook his body to force Red to lose his grip and threw him off once he got a good hold on him. The trainer flew until he was caught (or crashed into) by Saria and placed on the ground. Shinobi raced past them and pounced on Logan, digging his fangs into his shoulder. He cried out and threw the wolf off of him, only for him to come back and fire a blast of darkness strong enough to send him flying.

Seth ran up to where Red and Saria were and knelt down to inspect the wound. Moments later, Yellow appeared and sat in front of Red, a red mark on her cheek where she got hit. She tried to hold back her tears as she spoke to him, but with no luck. "R-Red… Are you…"

The teen coughed a bit of blood as he grasped his shoulder. He gave her a faint smile as a trail of blood leaked out of the corner of his mouth. "I'm fine, Yellow… _(Cough)_… Just in a bit of pain, that's all."

She didn't buy it and just stared at him sadly, the tears looking as though they were never going away.

Saria moved until she was beside Seth and whispered, "How bad is it?"

The rogue Endless shook his head, _-The wound is severe. It may be impossible to mend it completely, even with the experience of a trained profession in the field of medicine.-_ He glanced at the wound, taking note of what was destroyed and what still remained. The attack had left quite a devastating mark. Everything from the flesh to the blood vessels was destroyed, even the shoulder blade itself. The rain had caused the blood that had already leaked out to stick onto what was left of his shirt and vest. How Red hadn't fainted from blood loss amazed him, but he needed to act fast. _-However, I may be able to fix it.-_

The news caught Yellow's attention and she looked at him. Whatever tears remained in her eyes were wiped away as she looked at the Endless happily, "You can? How?"

He said nothing, but instead placed a hand on Red's shoulder, making him flinch from the pain that quickly followed. The Endless closed his eyes and began to focus. A light began to shine around his large hand and soon washed over the wound. Thin beams of light appeared within the wound, connecting the torn vessels together and repairing the shattered bones. The process was quick, and soon all that remained was the skin, which had also begun to be healed by the radiant light. When it was over, the wound was no longer there, but the blood still did.

He removed his hand and motioned for Red to move his arm. Hesitant, he moved it, expecting a sharp pain to appear at any moment. It took him a bit to realize that nothing came. He looked at it and moved his arm again, this time with more vigour. Still, there was no pain. A large smile was now on his face as he began to laugh happily. "The pain… It's gone! My shoulder's all better now!"

"Amazing…" Saria exclaimed in awe. This was the first time that she had seen an Endless heal someone else other than its own kind. And Seth had done so with just a touch. Just what others powers did this Endless possess?

Their conversation came to a halt as a fearsome roar rang out, drawing their attention back to the fight. Shinobi continued to bombard Logan with dark energy only for it to be countered by the Vanguard's attacks. Alpha had charged in at one point to strike Logan from behind, but he missed and soon began to attack him normally with his weapon and swift kicks.

Red gritted his teeth as he heard the insane laughter, "This isn't good… He's too fast and powerful to fight against, and all we've been doing so far was giving him more of a reason to kill us!"

"There has to be some way we can stop him!" Yellow said.

_-You are correct, Yellow.-_ The Endless began, _-Every opponent has a weakness, no matter how strong they are. The trick is to find out what that weakness is.-_

"But this is Logan we're talking about! For all we know, he may not even have any weaknesses at all!" Red countered back as he recalled his failed attempts to stop him.

Saria looked at her corrupted friend as the others continued to come up with a strategy. At one point she had heard someone say something about throwing Logan into the lake and force Nexus to give up once Logan was drowning, but she knew that it wouldn't work. She thought hard as her eyes followed Logan's movements, looking for some sort of flaw in his attack pattern.

Something shined around his neck when the twin blasts of darkness collided with one another. Saria peered closer at it and realized that it was the necklace. She was perplexed over the fact that it was still with Logan even after all this time, and hadn't been lost since they came here. Now that she thought about it, she had never recalled seeing him without it, even when he was asleep. It was like no matter where he went, the necklace was always with him. She knew that it was all he had left to remember Lucy, but the way he held it so close to him was as though it contained her very soul inside of it…

An idea suddenly formed in her head and she exclaimed in excitement, "Of course!" She sprinted off, weapon in hand, to where Logan currently was. Red and Yellow saw her go and shouted at her, confused as to what she was doing, but she didn't say anything. If she was correct with her plan, then there was a slight chance that she could bring Logan back.

The Vanguard finally got up to Shinobi and kicked him on the muzzle, making him crash into a tree. Alpha then came in and swung his blade, forcing Logan to move back. He began to counter back, but the Guardian did the same and soon aimed a fully transformed arm cannon right at his chest and fired. The searing heat of plasma scorched his upper body and forced him to take a defensive position. He took aim again, this time for the head, until he saw movement out of the corner of his optics. By the time he turned to look, _she_ had already went by.

Saria twirled the staff and held it up, making it look as though she was ready to impale her friend. Nexus saw her coming and laughed in mockery, _"So you've finally come to accept your death wish, little tramp? Alright then! I'll be happy to give it to you!"_ The blade in his right forearm flashed as more darkness began to brim, and he stood ready to swing it at her.

Both of them counted how many seconds they had left in their heads until she would reach him, making time move slower than usual.

Three seconds. She took a step forward while Nexus had his arm reared over his left shoulder as far as it could go, ready to slice her open.

Two seconds. The polearm was pulled back as far as it could go, ready to pierce through the corrupted Vanguard's flesh. Nexus himself took a step forward as the darkness flowed out like a stream of fire from the blade.

One second. Both their eyes flashed as Saria was now in reach and Nexus swung the blade, while she lunged the blade of her staff forward…

…and into the ground.

The Guide propelled herself over Logan once the blade was buried into the earth, narrowly missing his as it sliced the air beneath her. She performed a flip in the air and landed perfectly on her feet and, with his guard down for a split moment, turned around and jumped onto his shoulders. He stumbled forward from the sudden shift of weight and instinctively reached back to throw her off of him, but she was already one step ahead of him. She pressed the staff of her polearm against Nexus' throat and began to choke him. In the back of her mind, she knew that she didn't have a lot of time, so she acted fast.

She moved her right leg so that it held the staff underneath it and used her right hand to reach for the necklace. The cold bitter touch of the chain stung her hand as soon as she touched it, but she ignored it and began to pull it once she had a firm grip on it. A growl escaped from Logan's mouth and slammed his head back against hers, making her lose her grip as well as making her fall back. The staff, now freed, began to fall, giving Nexus a moment to take in a mouthful of much needed air.

Her eyes flashed and she grabbed hold of the staff, this time with both her legs, slamming it back against the Warrior's throat and spitting out the air. Her back slammed against his and she winced slightly as the bits of pain racked her body. She opened her eyes and paled when she saw the four tendrils hovering over her, ready to impale her. She reacted quickly and grabbed the snake-like appendages just as they lunged forward and then proceeded to tie them into a knot.

She picked herself up and pulled on the necklace with one hand while the other held onto the staff. Nexus by this point was flailing his arms about as he could feel his lungs beginning to collapse. He grabbed the staff and began to push it off of him. The first few tries yielded no results, much to his surprise, but by the third attempt he managed to pry it off of him. The staff was now over his head, and he soon began to prepare himself to throw the pestering Guide off of him.

Saria had other ideas. As soon as this was happening, she turned her body around so that she was completely opposite of Logan and dropped to the ground. The sudden action snapped Logan's arms back, eliciting a scream of pain as the staff was thrown behind his head. Saria took a few deep breaths and, with all her might, she lifted Logan up until he was now on top of her and threw him away. The Warrior lost his grip and crashed onto the ground head first. She hopped back a few feet and twirled the staff, setting herself in a fighting stance as Nexus soon got back up.

The rage the nightmarish persona had towards her was very noticeable from the way he barred his demonic teeth at her. _"You… I've grown tired of this little tango! I've been holding myself back this whole time, but now is where I draw the line!" _A surge of darkness manifested around him and skyrocketed up into the air. Between his hands an orb of pure violet light appeared. The tendrils broke free from their ensnarement and moved until they were pointing at the orb. The black sea rippled in response as tangible wisps flew out and began to merge with the orb as though it was a miniature black hole. Lightning danced across the sky as the wind began to pick up speed, the trees swaying side to side while the water churned in waves beneath them. _"I hope that you have prayed to whatever gods you worship, little tramp, because you will not find any salvation once I am done with you!"_

Saria's expression remained unchanged from the threat. If anything, she appeared to look more confident. "I doubt you will try to harm me," She lifted her right hand up, clutching onto something tightly in it and showed it to him, "So long as I have this in my possession."

Nexus peered at the object with curiosity, the darkness still charging as he did, and saw that the object in question was none other than Logan's necklace. Confusion was visible on his face before it shifted to sheer laughter. _"That little trinket?! What good do you think that worthless piece of metal will have against me?"_

"I was not referring to you, Nexus."

The nightmare paused for a moment, unsure as to what she meant, until he realized who she was actually speaking to.

The dark orb faded in the blink of an eye, and everything around them from the water to the lightning came to a sudden halt. His body began to stiffen, feeling naught but a wriggling sensation that travelled across his arms and legs. To the others, there were no other changes in his strange behaviour, but to Saria, who took notice of the slight movement beneath him, caught sight of what was really happening.

There, to her shock, she saw his reflection, writhing and grasping onto its head as it let out a silent wail, a sound that she felt she could faintly hear. The only light that she saw from the reflection was from the green eye; a green aura that leaked out violently from the cracks that etched across its surface. The reflection's movements became more hectic until Nexus began to do the same. She could even make out a whisper that seemed to grow louder with each passing moment, its tone ebbed with great sorrow… and a long-forgotten anger.

"Nec…eck…la…aceee…" A blinding light soon exploded from the eye, the aura stretching out like a wildfire, and the symbol hidden within the eye glowing with an azure radiance. "Give… it… back…" His voice came out as a deep and menacing growl. Lightning shrieked as the darkness around him surged uncontrollably. The reflection let out a silent roar, one that sent shivers crawling down Saria's spine as if she heard it for real.

Nexus became shocked over what was happening and began to fight back. _-No… This can't be… happening! How… are you… resisting!?It's… not possible!-_

He was shut away from reality as the rest of Logan's shattered mentality came in, sending him back into the dark recesses of his mind. The Vanguard let out a horrifying scream that towered above the raging tempest. "GIVE IT BACK!" A bolt of lightning struck the ground close by and lit up the entire area. The earth beneath Logan exploded as soon as he made the slightest movement and was now upon the Guide.

She moved out of the way just as the steel fist slammed against the ground she stood on just moments ago, a column of water and dirt erupting into the air in her place. He roared out in frustration and charged at her. She raised her staff up as he swung a fist at her and successfully blocked the attack. He snarled demonically and soon started clawing at the staff. Every attack he threw at her grew stronger than the last, and left deeper cuts on the polearm's surface. She tried her best to hide it, but her strength was gradually beginning to waver from the blow of each attack.

From the side, Alpha was about ready to charge in and providing assistance before Seth stopped him. _-This is a fight that Saria must face on her own.-_

"Are you serious?!" Red shouted out in disbelief. "After what he did to our Pokémon and to you guys?! She won't stand a chance against him without our help!"

_-If anybody is more suited for this kind of fight, it is her. She knows him more than any of us, and therefore understands how he fights and his reasons. And with the necklace in hand, she is surely able to turn the tides of battle to her favour.-_ He ignored the obvious glare he was getting from the trainer and gazed at the fight. The Guide in question had succeeded in countering the Warrior's onslaught, but he was soon firing a series of dark beams at her, to which she was frantically dodging and not giving any moment to rest. His expression dropped for a moment and soon added. _-But that alone is not enough. If she wishes to win this fight, then she must be able to communicate with him directly. Until she is able to do so, we will remain here and watch. Should anything come up that proves otherwise, then we will assist her.-_

Red frowned at that. He didn't like the idea at all, but the Endless was right. He still didn't like it, though. Alpha shared the same thought, but he listened to Seth and stayed where he was, his grip tight on the energy blade should he ever need to use it.

Saria cartwheeled to her left to avoid the quick triple beam attack and landed on a new spot, then glanced up and saw two more heading right for her. She knew that she wouldn't be able to dodge it, so she twirled her weapon in front of her and deflected the shots, dispersing them into little shards of light before they vanished. The weapon stopped its spinning and the blade end landed on the ground, the owner panting heavily from all the moving she did. Logan was becoming more and more accurate with those beams, and it was only a matter of time before one of them will hit her before she could even retaliate.

_It is now or never, as some would say._ Saria thought to herself before she shouted, "I know you can hear me, Logan! You have to stop this! Do you not see that you are slowly being killed by your own rage? If you do not stop this soon, then you will be destroyed by your own power!"

The Vanguard hissed loudly before he spoke, "What's the point… in living… if all that exists in life… is nothing but pain… and sorrow?" He wobbled about before taking a step forward, darkness dripping from his claws into the sea below like blood.

"So you wish to throw your life away instead? Just like that?" She questioned. "What about the promises that you made to everyone? What about your friends and family? Are they not important to you? Do you want them to mourn for you when you die?"

"None… of that matters… to me…" He whispered out with disdain, making the Guide gasp out in shock. "You… can't even understand… the pain… that I'm feeling."

Saria found her voice soon raising out at him, "I do understand! Why else would I be trying to help you?"

His eyes flashed and soon the darkness grew ecstatic, "You… know… NOTHING!"

She brought her staff up and blocked a well-aimed spin kick that he threw, pushing her away from him. The attack was definitely stronger than his claws, but otherwise there was nothing different about it.

That was, before she saw the large symbol appearing beneath her.

She cursed and hopped further back as a dark pillar sprang out from the symbol. Right as it appeared, dozens of others appeared in a spiral formation around Logan, making her curse even louder. The pillars picked up more and more speed as they advanced upon Saria, forcing her to move back even more until the last one vanished. Logan lowered himself to a crouching position and dashed across the sea, more pillars appearing wherever he stepped before he jumped up and prepared to slam his fists on her. She moved out of the way in time, but a large shockwave formed the moment it impacted and knocked her off her feet.

She picked herself up just as Logan reached her again. Seeing no other choice with running, she threw herself at him and forced him to grab her staff, locking them both in place.

She gritted her teeth as her legs began to buckle from Logan's strength, yet she refused to back down so easily. "Why are you so difficult to reason with?!"

"Why… are you so determined… to help me?!" Logan shouted back at her.

"Because I am your friend, Logan! Is that not what friends do for one another? They help each other with whatever problems they are dealing with because they care for one another! You had once told me that before, remember?"

"LIES! Nothing… but lies!" He screamed out and pushed her down to one knee. "Friends… don't help each other… They desert them… abandon them… betray them! Why… would I ever consider those… who would only wish… to use me… and then leave me to die… when I'm no longer needed… as friends?!" Something began to fall from his eyes and Saria knew right away that it was tears, "Even if you say… such things… you would just… abandon me… like the rest… leave me to die… alone… uncared for…"

Saria pushed back against him and set herself back on her feet, "Logan, am I the kind of person who would ever do such a thing? I care about you, you stubborn baka! That alone means that I do not want to see you throw your life away and accept death! I want to help you, Logan, but I cannot do so unless you let me!"

The struggling began to seize as she noticed the faltering in the Warrior's strength. The maddening glow that resonated within those luminescent eyes of his began to dim away. She knew for a fact that he was contemplating over her words, and couldn't help but smile happily that her plan was working.

His muscles suddenly tensed and the green light flared, causing her smile to disappear. "No… You're… You're lying!" He tossed the staff around, which in turn tossed her around until he threw them both away. She placed a hand into the murky depths of the water and twirled her body around to slow herself down. She heard him roaring out and saw the darkness creating an aura so thick that only the outline of his silhouette was visible. "You'll abandon me… just like everyone else!"

"No! That is not true, Logan! I would never abandon you! Please, if you would just–"

It was too late. The black sea erupted in a mass of columns, skyrocketing up into the air, and the darkness around him all went to his right hand. It glowed in a sickly deep violet as he balled it up into a fist. He let out another roar and charged.

Saria knew what he was doing. He was transferring all the power that he had stored up and using it all for one attack. With all the darkness that was absorbed, plus the destructive power of his rage itself, she knew that there was no way she would survive a direct hit from it. He was moving too fast for her to avoid it, too, which added further problems and her with little options to choose. She shouted out a word in her native tongue and formed a barrier around her. There was doubt in her mind that this would not work, but she had no other choice then to try.

He threw the first forward, and by instinct she brought her staff up, ready to absorb whatever was left of the attack. The fist slammed against the barrier, causing sparks to fly between them. The darkness became erratic and slammed against it like shadowy hands trying to break in, but to her surprise it was still holding.

Her moment of victory was short-lived, however, as she felt the barrier suddenly grew weaker before it completely shattered. Her face paled, and she readied herself as the fist hit the staff. But much like the barrier, it broke in half and the power that was stored inside of it dispersed into the air.

She felt the wind knocked right out of her when the fist struck her in the chest and slammed against the tree that was clear behind her back first. Pain was all she felt across her body as she slowly slid down the tree, drawing in a short intake of breath.

A steel hand gripped around her neck and stopped her descent, cutting the flow of air from her lungs right away. The owner of the hand lifted her up and slammed her against the tree again, making her lose more air in the process. She gripped onto his wrist, trying to pry it away from her, but to no avail. She could feel him tightening his grip, and this in turn made her struggle even more.

Yellow saw this happening and gasped, "No…" She whispered and brought her hands up to cover her mouth. Red and Alpha immediately ran about three feet before Seth stopped them. They glared up at him and only saw him shaking his head, letting them know that it wasn't time yet. Again, though more grudgingly, they listened to him.

Saria could see her vision tunnelling, and the image of Logan before her grew more and more fuzzy. She could feel the last bit of her strength going away before her hands finally let go of his wrists and fell to her side. The necklace, which she still held on to, dropped until the chain was caught in one of her fingers. She felt the cold metal against her finger and absentmindedly pressed her thumb against it.

Through the raging tempest and the screams of the corrupted Vanguard, soft melodies of a piano playing in a slow, almost mesmerizing rhythm had appeared. Logan's growling drew quiet when he heard the keys, and looked around in confusion wondering where it was coming from. His grip loosened enough to let air return into Saria's lung, but enough to keep firmly in place.

When his eyes landed on the necklace, he craned his head forward and heard the noise more clearly this time. Another growl came out as he listened intently to the music, his interest growing the more he listened, as well as being slightly confused. He had this necklace for a decade now, yet he never knew that it could play music. He had inspected the whole thing from top to bottom, and yet he never found anything.

He shifted his gaze back up to look at Saria and saw something falling from her eyes. It was clear, and had a silver colour to it. He raised his hand up to her face and carefully wiped it away; making sure that the small speck of water was attached to his claw. He brought it closer to his face in order to inspect it and emitting a low growl. He recognized this type of fluid. It was a tear, which meant that the Guide in his hand was crying. But why?

Something began to stir within him as he saw the Vanguard's tears fall, "Why… do you… cry?" He asked her as the music continued to play.

She didn't say anything, not because her throat was still strained from his vice-grip, but also because she was afraid of what to say to him. He was slowly becoming aware of what he was doing after hearing the music, and from the way his expression looked on his face, she knew that whatever she said would only make it worse. She closed her eyes and looked away from him, too ashamed to speak to him directly.

He seemed to catch on to her silence and asked in a choked whisper, "Is it… because… you fear… me?"

The question came like a bullet through her heart, and it was enough for her to open her eyes again and looked back at him. The green aura from his eye was now like a little ember, masking the look of fear that was hidden within. She lowered her gaze to the ground and, with every bit of effort, muttered out a single word.

"…Y…Yes…"

The Warrior's growling stopped and his eyes widened. He craned his head forward, just a few inches away from hers, before speaking, "What… is it… about me… that you… fear…?"

No other responses were made from her, except now she cried even harder. It didn't take long for him to figure out what it was about him that she was afraid of.

She was afraid of what he was becoming.

He looked down at his hand and stared at his claws, hearing nothing but her tears. The strange feeling returned, only it came in a force that he was unable to register. He glanced back at her, seeing her shake in his grip as her tears fell to the dark sea. It was strange, now that he thought about it. He recalled seeing something like this before, but couldn't remember when exactly.

Something clicked in his mind, and the world suddenly began to change. Instead of a tree that Saria was up against, she was now pinned on top of a grassy field, the rain was now falling onto his back and around them, and the temperature became much colder than it was earlier.

Saria also began to change as well. Her short, black hair grew longer and changed into a more brunette colour. The right side of her face was partially hidden by her hair, and her ocean blue eyes grew smaller and more human. Her body grew smaller and younger as well, making her look more like a ten year old. Small freckles were on both her cheeks and her skin tone turned from night-black to a darker shade of peach. Her clothes shifted into a dark grey rain coat, with a plain dark red long-sleeved shirt beneath it and a pair of dark blue jeans. Fear immediately overtook Logan as he knew full well who this girl was. His eyes, half shocked and afraid, stared into her tear-filled eyes.

"S…S…Sol…" He whispered so quietly that even he couldn't hear the name.

He released his hold on her, letting her curl up into a ball and beginning to cough loudly. He took a step away from her as her coughing began to slow and looked up at him, her eyes bearing a look that made him feel like his heart would shatter.

For the first time, he heard her soothing voice; the same voice that he had not heard for so many years, speaking to him, "Logan? Why…?" He could hear the fear that was laced in her voice, as well as the hidden sadness that was there.

He shook his head and soon brought his hands up to cover his ears. This couldn't be happening. This had to be another illusion. There was no way that this was Sol! It couldn't be her! He felt his rage growing, seething nothing but hatred that Nexus would do something like this, until he took notice of their surroundings, to which his heart sunk even deeper.

There were tombstones all around them, each one bearing a different design and a name engraved on the plates in front of them. A thick mist surrounded them, hiding everything that it consumed in a white haze. And on the surface of the grass, coating the small leafy blades, was the distinct stain of blood.

No... Black blood…

The blood of an Endless…

A scream rang out as the memories suddenly poured in, forcing him down to one knee. Sol saw this happening and ran up to him, not bothered by his new appearance, and knelt in front of him. "Logan!"

He glanced at her through his pain, and gasped when he saw that Sol was no longer there. Instead it was now Saria, whose luminescent eyes glowed with concern. The world had also changed back to the Viridian Forest, and the grass was now the black sea again. They were all there for a few seconds before they all shifted back. He jolted in shock and collapsed, landing on what was left of a tombstone, which in turn drew out a sharp pain across his body.

Sol/Saria took a step forward to him, one hand reaching out to grasp his. "Logan… What is happening to you?"

His eyes began to shed tears as he shielded his face from her. "Stay back!" He shouted out fearfully, which in turn made her stop moving. It took a moment for him to realize what he did and soon apologized, "Please… Don't… come near me… Sol. I… I don't want… to hurt you…"

"Sol? Logan, it is me, Saria. Remember?" As soon as she said that, she shifted back to Saria for a split second before changing back.

He shook his head, "No… You… You're Sol… You can't be… Saria… You're a… human… not… a Van…guard… You… can't be her… You're Sol… Sol…" His mind was in shambles. He couldn't make heads or tails of who it was in front of him. Sol? Saria? They both looked the same to him! How could he tell who she really was?

_-…Kill her…-_

Logan froze when he heard the voice. Just as he did, Nexus' phantom appeared over him and placed a rotting hand on the top of his head. He tightened his grip, and in response Logan cringed. The pain was quickly becoming too much for him, and he soon forgot everything that he was thinking at the moment.

_-What are you waiting for? Now is your chance! Kill her, and your pain will go away!- _He shouted into his ear as he applied more pressure onto his grip.

"But… she… she is…" The Warrior tried to speak it out, but the pain had quickly overcome him and he stopped mid-sentence.

_-I don't care if she's your best friend, your family, or even your lover! Kill her NOW!-_

Logan's eyes flew wide open upon hearing that. The memories… they felt like they would split his mind apart with guilt and regret. All he could remember and see at this point was Sol. Sitting beside her and watching the sunset, the times that they've talked to each other, the laughs and tears they've shared, all those memories brought in a myriad of emotions like a tsunami. And his anger soon flared to dangerous levels. "I… I… refuse…!"

Another surge of pain quickly shut him up, but all it did was make him even angrier. _-You will obey what I say so long as I still exist! I am your master, little puppet, and I command you to kill her!-_

"I… am… NO ONE'S PUPPET!" He immediately turned around and swung a left hook at Nexus, though it merely phased through him.

Chains exploded from beneath the sea and bound themselves around Logan, locking him in place. He roared and gnawed at the chain that was around his shoulder, but it wouldn't break. The more he struggled to break free, the tighter the chains seemed to get.

With him now held down, Nexus reappeared in front of him and scoffed. _-Pathetic. If you can't carry out a simple task, then I'll just have to do it myself.-_ The faint red lights flashed as he snapped his fingers at Saria's general direction, striking her with a telekinetic force. She hit the ground a few times and rolled before she now lied on her side. Her arms wrapped around her chest as the pain already began to take its toll on her.

The nightmare snapped his fingers again and the air above him was suddenly filled with shadowy swords. They hovered in place, all of them pointing up at the sky, before Nexus moved his hand. The blades shook and slowly began to turn until they were now pointing at the Guide. She couldn't see his face, but if she did, she would have seen the grim smirk that was there.

_- Any last words before I kill you, little tramp?-_ He taunted out loud in victory.

_-REVEAL!-_

He heard the shout, and noticed too late the ball of light heading for him. The ball expanded into a thick mist and flew through him, making him shield his eyes from the sudden brightness. When it was over, he glared at the Endless who had attacked him just now, and scoffed. _-Honestly, has everyone forgotten the fact that I can't be hurt? Even that light show can't do anything to me.-_ He snapped his fingers with his other hand, and after a few seconds the sea exploded. A horribly disfigured and rotting human climbed out of the darkness and roared out loud, its mad eyes trained onto the Endless. More of them appeared in a similar manner and wobbled about, claws stretching and ready to strike.

Yellow gasped as she felt a sense of familiarity flash in her mind. _Those are the things that were in my nightmare._ She backed up until she was hiding behind Red, recalling the moment where she was running away from them in those hallways.

The first one roared again and pounced at Seth, but it was easily dealt with by a swift backhand. The rest saw this and soon a chorus of roars filled the sky. They then charged at once, most of them heading for the Endless while the rest went after the trainers and Guardian.

Nexus' laughter towered over the roars of the undead. _-That should keep you all busy.-_ He focused his attention back on Saria, who at this point was on her knees and looked at him with a hateful glare. He laughed again as the blades began to shake, ready to go at any moment. Upon seeing this, the Guide's expression immediately fell. _-I will enjoy listening to your screams!-_

Behind him, Logan continued to writhe in his prison and looked on at the chaos that was happening. He could hear Yellow's scream as one of the walking corpses tried to take a swing at her, but missed and was then hit on the side of a head by a branch from Red. Seth had about twenty of them piled on top of them before he clasped his hands together and created a shockwave that threw them all off of him. Alpha was switching from stabbing them in the heart with his weapon and shooting them in the face with his arm cannon, and Shinobi was biting every undead that came at it on the neck.

And Saria… He could see the fear building up on her face upon seeing the blades, and Nexus' laughter echoing in his head. The world shifted again and this time he saw Sol in Saria's place before it shifted again. He felt dread seeping into his heart as he realized the horrible truth.

Sol, or Saria, was about to die by Nexus' hand… By his hand…

_No…_ His voice rang out in his head, this one lost entirely in rage, _I won't… lose her… again!_ He thrashed about, harder and frantically this time, the chains rattling and clanking as they hit one another. He could feel nothing but raw power flowing across his veins. The whole area was soon silenced as a scream rang out, causing everyone and the creatures to stop fighting.

"NEXUS!"

The nightmare looked over his shoulder just to see the Warrior breaking free before he charged at him, roaring along the way. His eyes flickered and his smug grew wider, not believing what he was seeing. _-Have you already forgotten, Logan?! I can't be hurt, no matter what you do!-_

That didn't stop Logan one bit. In fact, it seemed to make him run even faster. The nightmare muttered something underneath his breath and pointed his right hand at him, darkness flowing between the fingertips…

The Warrior had already reached him, surprising Nexus as he wondered how he got to him so fast, and sank his dagger-like teeth onto his shoulder. The forest woke up to the sound of the nightmare screaming in pain.

Logan proceeded to toss him around, his shoulder still in his mouth, before he loosened his jaw and threw him. The fiend rolled across the ground and stumbled back when he began to slow, his hand gripping onto the injured shoulder as he took a moment to recollect his thoughts. There was no way that Logan could have injured him. He was a part of Logan's mind! How can he be injured if he wasn't even…!

He remembered the haze of light that Seth had fired at him, and the word that he had shouted beforehand. He looked down at his hand and stared agaped, seeing that it was no longer transparent. The same effect had happened to the rest of his body as well, and by this point he had an idea of what happened. The Endless had used an ability that removed him from Logan's mind and placed him into reality. Which means…

_-I can be harmed…-_ He said to himself before slamming a fist down, causing the black water to splash. _Shit! This was not supposed to happen!_ The area began to light up for some reason, which prompt him to look up and see what it was. He cursed again and saw that the light was a ball of darkness. He felt it slam against his body and sent him even further back, landing on his back with a loud thud. He grumbled in pain as he slowly crawled back up.

All the nightmare felt at the moment was pure frustration and snapped. _-You'll regret that!-_ He snapped his fingers, and the blades immediately flew forward.

Logan watched the blades coming and quickly followed their line of path, seeing that most of them were still aimed at Saria. Without hesitating, he moved up to her and stood in place, arms outstretched like a human shield. Not a second later, he felt the blades piercing through his body.

Saria stared at him in horror as trickles of blood leaked down his body from the wounds. She could see him breathing heavily, and all she saw on his face was pain. Blood came out of his mouth as soon as he coughed, and soon collapsed to one knee. The tendrils stiffened before they fell one by one around him, almost as dead as the shambling corpses. She immediately crawled up to him and looked at him at eye level, her worry very clear in her eyes.

"Logan… Why?" She asked him, not understanding why he would do something so reckless for her.

He coughed again as blood leaked from the corner of his mouth and replied, "Isn't… it obvious… Sol? You know me enough… t…to know why…"

That name again. She couldn't understand why he kept calling her Sol. Did she bear some sort of similarity to the human girl? Was it because of the necklace? She didn't know the answer, nor did she care for that matter. "But why, Logan?" She repeated the question, "Why would you do something like that for me?"

He lifted his hand up to her and gently brushed away a strand of hair that was on her face. She could feel the cold touch of his metal hand against her cheek, which immediately caused a blush to form. "…I… I didn't want… to lose you… again…" He coughed again, harder this time, and spat out more blood. It pained Saria to see him in so much pain, and her hands soon found themselves holding onto his. His fingers curled around hers and he let out a soft chuckle, "You… haven't changed a bit… since then…" He coughed again, his voice rasped and sore, "Six… years… I've… waited for you… for six years… And yet I… never gave up hope… when you never called… or when we never heard… anything from your dad… or even when Earth… was taken from us… I never accepted… the possibility… of you being dead… because of our promise…"

She saw his other hand rising up and saw the silver and violet bracelet still around his wrist, "You remember… our promise… don't you? We promised that no matter what happens… or how much we change… we would meet again… in the near future…" He moved the hand forward and gently caressed the side of her face, feeling the softness of her skin, and the warmth of his hand on her. "I held… onto that promise… since then… because it was all… that kept me to believe… that you were still alive…"

His words struck a chord within Saria as more tears fell from her eyes, "Logan…" She whispered.

Another cough occurred, this one forcing him to let go of her and hold onto his chest, but her hands never left his. "Listen… to me Sol… You have to get out of here… and go somewhere safe…"

She shook her head at him and gripped tightly on his hand until her knuckles turned white, "No. I refuse to leave you like this, Logan!"

"You have… no other choice… Sol… If you stay… with me… then Nexus will kill you…" He wheezed loudly, the pain becoming worse for him to bear, "Please… Sol… I can't live with myself… knowing that something terrible… happened to you… because of me…"

The Guide was speechless. Here she was; a Vanguard who was quick to explain anything about her people and her duty to those who wished to hear; a Vanguard who was ready to strike down any Endless no matter how powerful they were, and she was unable to do anything for him. She had never felt so useless in her life before. But what could she possibly do to help? She was no match for Nexus even when he was injured, and even though she hated to admit, she knew that Logan had the best chance of fighting against him.

After a few long moments, she nodded her head, albeit very slowly. "Al…Alright."

He chuckled again and leaned his head forward until they were about a breaths distance away. "Don't worry… about me… The pain… isn't all that bad… now that you're here…" She watched him move closer until his forehead was now touching hers and emitted a soft growl from his throat. Her cheeks became a deep shade of crimson upon hearing the soft noise, and before she knew it, he lowered his head and kissed her on the lips, making her whole body warm up instantaneously.

The moment was very fleeting, but to her, it felt like it went on for years. His lips, however rough and jagged, felt so gentle and loving against hers. Her mind immediately became a jumbled mess the moment she felt the kiss, and all the feeling within her body disappeared. Even when he pulled back to look at her again, her mind remained the same. "I promise… that I'll come back… and when I do… we'll have to catch up on what we missed…"

He climbed up to his feet, ignoring the increasing pain from the blades, and turned to face Nexus once more. The undead had all gathered up before him, separating him and his target. They howled and hissed as they waited for their master to give out the order, who stared at them with fury in his hollowed eyes.

_-A hollow promise… You're quite familiar with those. Do you honestly think that I'll let you walk out of here alive, after what you've just done?-_ He questioned him as his hand balled up into a fist.

The Warrior let out a chuckle as his right eye glowed bright. The tendrils began to slither about, their 'spirits' somehow rekindled, and flew up over his head, each one pointing at the closest undead. "I always… keep my promises… It's you… who can't keep true to his word…"

_-We'll see about that.-_ He threw his hand forward and shouted out a single word to all the undead, _-ATTACK!-_

The creatures roared in unison and charged at him. Not a second later, the four tendrils lashed forward and impaled several of them in a single line before they sliced them apart. He reached back and pulled out two of the blades, more pain washing across his body, and with a flick of the wrist threw them at a few more undead. It impaled them between the eyes and brought them straight to the ground, killing them instantly.

More eventually took their place and the ones closest to him were about ready to slash him with their claws, but his hands moved faster than theirs and they fell one by one, huge gashes across their bodies. He reached out and snapped the neck of one that got too close to him and tossed its body at several others, knocking them over like bowling pins. The tendrils began to swing wildly, slicing every undead that was dumb enough to attack him, and he soon broke into a football style charge across the horde.

The nightmare cursed and took aim with the palm of his hand. A sickly coloured orb of energy appeared and he soon fired it at the Warrior. The orb had only come about three feet from him before he swatted it aside, the sheer force strong enough to destroy it completely where it was. He fired more and more energy at him, but the results were still the same, and soon Logan had reached him and pounced him to the ground.

He pinned Nexus to the shallow water with one knee and began to claw at him wildly. His flesh and blood flew out like ribbons, bringing more and more pain to the nightmare than he could ever hope to imagine. He kicked the Vanguard in the chest a few times, trying to get him off of him, before the fourth attempt managed to do so. He climbed back up and placed a hand over the wounds, waiting for them to heal over before he could do anything else.

Logan didn't give him the time to do so and slammed the lower portion of his leg onto Nexus' chest. The impact sent him flying and crash into a large tombstone. The Warrior came running at him again and grabbed onto his head, slamming him through the grave, chains, more graves, anything that was in the way before he was then slammed to the ground. He picked the fiend back up and heatbutted him as hard as he could, then followed it up with a hammerblow*. The nightmare was now staggering everywhere, giving Logan the opportunity to charge him again. Nexus however recovered much faster than he anticipated and caught his hands with his own, bringing the two into a grappling match.

_-Why won't you die?!-_ Nexus exclaimed, completely baffled as to how he was still able to fight back.

"I have… no reason… to die…" He said before pushing him back.

Nexus cringed as he desperately tried to maintain his balance. He couldn't believe it; his plan was failing. If this keeps up, then he was bound to be destroyed by the very person he had tried to control for so long.

Something moved out of the corner of his eye and, without moving his head, looked down to see what it was. He could faintly see the area on his lower arm beginning to fade away, reverting back to its transparent state. As he looked at it, he felt something click in his mind and smirked widely. The ability that the Endless had used on him was starting to wear out.

A dark smile formed on his decayed face and soon began to taunt the Warrior again. _-Come now, Logan. Do you honestly believe that you'll win against me, after all the fail attempts that you've made before? After all, we are the same, you and I, of flesh and blood and mind.-_ He heard him snarling even louder and pushed him back, but all it did was move him about a foot. Now his whole upper arm and upper torso were transparent. _-Soon, the effects of that Endless' attack will wear out, and I will regain control over your mind. Once I do, I'll kill every last one of your friends and loved ones die with your own hands. And I'll make that you suffer and watch every moment of it.-_

"Go ahead… and try… coward…" He spoke harshly as half of Nexus' face became spectral. "There's nothing left… that you can destroy… inside there anyway… So what good… will it possibly do… for you?"

The fiend laughed out loud and pushed Logan back, throwing him off balance. As soon as he did that, his whole body reverted back to its spectral state and entered Logan's head again. The Vanguard writhed and turned as he could feel his counterpart reclaiming control over him again. He could hear the nightmare laughing as he reappeared above him, his body from the waist up the only thing visible.

Red shook his head as he saw this happening and muttered to himself, "Damn it… Not again." He instinctively put an arm in front of Yellow, keeping her behind him in case he needed to protect her from Logan again.

_-_'_Nothing left for me to destroy', huh? There are still a lot of precious memories inside of here that I can easily destroy!-_ He proclaimed as he sent another surge of pain onto Logan that brought him down to his knees._ -Who's the greater fool now, Logan?-_

"Honestly…?" Logan asked before he chuckled again, "It's… still… you…" He suddenly stood up and shouted at the top of his lungs, "SETH!"

The Endless heard his name and took a step forward, curious as to what Logan was about to say. He saw him glancing at him, his eyes growing wide and brimming with madness. "You know… what you must do… You have… to end this… before he takes over… again…"

So that was his plan. Seth had to admit, even with half his mind gone out the window, he was still reasonably intelligent. The others, on the other hand, caught on to what he meant, but he waved a hand to silence them before they could even say anything and spoke. _-You do know what you are asking, Warrior? Are you sure you still want me to do this?-_

Logan laughed at the Endless and shook his head, "Come now… Seth… Don't tell me… you've gotten… soft… And here I thought… that you were stronger… than that…" He took a few steps towards him, claws stretching and his snarling growing louder, "If you're worried… about me dying… then don't… I've… been through… much worse than this…" He lifted his hand up and pointed at him, "But make no… mistake… Seth… the next time… we meet… you owe me… a rematch…"

For a split second, a smile had appeared on his skeletal face. _-You are a strange Vanguard, Logan... but I shall hold onto that promise.-_

The smile lasted for a second before Logan screamed out again, his eye quickly shifting from green to stark red. He went on for several seconds, screaming louder and louder while Seth had closed his eyes and made his fighting stance, one similar to that of a monk's. In the midst of his screaming, the twin shadowy blades reappeared on his forearms, but have grown in length, and emitted an even stronger sense of power around them. The Vanguard charged at the Endless at full speed, both arms held back and the tip of the blades skidding across the black sea.

The world began to grow still as Seth took a deep breath, feeling nothing the wind slowing to a calming breeze and the touch of the rain against his skin. All he heard was the sound of his own breathing, and the distant shouting of Red and Yellow telling him to stop. He counted down the remaining seconds it would take for Logan to reach him and began to channel his power into his fists.

The familiar voice of Nexus appeared once more, displaying more anger then before. _-I will not accept defeat so easily!-_ He swung the right arm at the Endless, the blade ready to slash across his torso.

The Endless' eyes opened up and, moving faster than the wind, swatted the blade aside with his left hand and placed the same one onto the shoulder. A jolt of electricity appeared once before it was released. In a split second since it appeared, the metallic arm exploded into nothing but debris, pieces of it flying everywhere.

Nexus, feeling nothing but shock from the attack, did not notice the other hand as it slammed against his chest, doing the same thing as the first. But instead it ended with a different result. Black energy shot forth from his back, and his body 'shattered', removing the blackened husk that was there and leaving nothing but the Logan that had first entered the forest. The world around them had also shattered, breaking away all the tombstones, chains and crosses and reverting the sea back into an emerald field. The storm had also begun to die down a bit, but it still poured heavily down on them. The nightmare felt his control slipping away and sank back into the depths of Logan's mind, screaming as he did.

The Warrior stared off in front of him with wide eyes, a sudden feeling of cold and emptiness replacing his pain and anger. He stood there for some time, even when Seth had removed his hand, before he collapsed to his knees, and then down completely seconds later.

All were silent as they watched the Vanguard's fall. Yellow was covering her mouth with both hands, mortified to her very core, while Red simply stared with wide eyes. Alpha's mood remained unchanged, but it looked as though even he was spooked about this.

Yet out of all of them, Saria felt the worst. Since the moment Logan had kissed her, her mind had drawn a complete blank, and she had simply stared off at where Logan had once stood. But after hearing the explosion and the nightmare's screaming, she slowly woke up to find her friend lying on the grass, his arm completely obliterated... and seeing no signs of him breathing. Her heart slowly quickened its pace, feeling as though her worst fears had come true, and felt a few stream of tears falling from her eyes. Soon, the internal pain became too much for her to bear, and through the thunder and lightning that boomed and arced across the sky, she screamed out in utter despair.

"LOGAN!"

All he saw at that moment was the sight of a night-coloured girl with glowing blue eyes running to his side before his vision faded into black.

* * *

><p><strong>I apologize if I haven't focused the story on Yellow or Red a lot, but I assure you that they will have more 'screen-time' in the later chapters.<strong>

_**Terms:**_

**Hammerblow: A **hammerblow** is a martial arts attack made with both hands interlocked at the fingers. The added weight and control (as opposed to a regular punch) allows for a slower, but more powerful strike.**


	24. Message From The Author

**Message From The Author**

So it's been around seven to eight months since I wrote the last chapter, and I've made little progress on the next one. I feel like if I keep looking at the damn thing, I'll go insane at some point. So unfortunately, this story will be on hiatus for some time until then.

That's not to say that I'm giving up on this story. I will come back to it eventually, but I need to take a break from it and focus on other things. Like I said before in the last notification, I will be going back to previous chapters to rework on them now that I have a clearer idea on the characters and the plot. Right now I'm reworking on Chapter 1, so a lot of things will be different then the last rework I made.

I know a lot of you have been waiting for the next chapter to arrive, honestly I wanted to get it finished and over with, but sadly that isn't the case. Until then, I hope you all have a good time. I will post progress on the edits I've done and what chapters have been reworked, so look forward to that.

~ Neoshadow574


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